405 



Fagus sylvatica. " This forms the principal part of the timber in 

 all woods in the western portion of the county, which might hence be 

 denominated the ' Regio Fagi] or region of the beech ; as the eastern 

 might, in like manner, take the name of ' Regio Cai-pini,' or region of 

 the hornbeam ; while the northern or Ouse district, from its want of 

 timber, must be called ' Regio Nuda.' Some authors strangely mark 

 the beeeh as an introduced species, on the authority of Caesar, who 

 states that Britain produced ' timber of all sorts the same as Gaul, 



except the Fagus and Abies.' The Abies is now confessed to 



be the Pinus Abies, or silver fir, and not P. sylvestris, the Scotch 

 fir, which was formerly, on the same grounds, considered as an in- 

 troduced species. And it is plain that either the Fagus of Cassar was 

 not the beech, or that Caesar did not happen to encounter any of our 

 native beech-forests during his short stay in Britain : for it is im- 

 possible to doubt the genuine wildness of this species in the west of 

 our county, and still more in the adjacent county of Bucks, which is 

 supposed to take its name from this tree." 



C. 



Notice of 'A Hand-Book of British Ferns, intended as a Guide and 

 Companion to Fern Culture. By Thomas Moore, Curator of 

 the Botanic Garden of the Society of Apothecaries.' 



The matter contained in this nice little book had previously appear- 

 ed, as the author informs us, in the columns of a weekly newspaper, in- 

 tituled 'The Gardener's and Farmer's Journal,' and we have sub- 

 sequently seen it, with some omissions, in another horticultural 

 periodical. The work is very unpretending, adopting, in almost all 

 instances, the modern improvements of Presl, Smith and Newman : 

 the last-named author is used somewhat too freely in the details of 

 structure: wherever figures or descriptions are borrowed the obliga- 

 tion should be scrupulously acknowledged. In instances where the 

 author aims at originality he does not appear to be particularly 

 happy: but of this the reader may judge from the list which follows. 

 Allosorus crispus. Of this fern two named varieties are thus de- 

 scribed : — 



" (3. dentatus ; barren fronds — ultimate divisions oblong-oval, the 

 margin sinuate- dentate, feather-veined ; fertile fronds — ulti- 

 mate divisions roundish oblong. 

 Vol. hi. 3 p 



