188 REVIEWS. [August, 



soon as we conveniently can^ we pledge ourselves to give them 

 an extended notice of this valuable work, not derived at second- 

 handj but drawn fresh from the fountain-head. 



Index Filicum : a Synopsis, with Characters of the Genera, and 

 an Enumeration of the Species of Ferns, ivith Synonyms, Re- 

 ferences, etc. By Thomas Moore, Author of the ' Handbook 

 of British Ferns,^ ' The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Nature-printed,' etc. etc. 



It will be seen from the above title, that this is not a mere 

 catalogue of Ferns, though even this might be a very useful 

 work, but a careful digest of almost all that is known about this 

 beautiful and popular order of plants. The first part contains 

 the author's classification, or the orders, tribes, and sections 

 under which he arranges the extensive materials of his subject. 

 He briefly defines the families and the subordinate groups of 

 genera. The latter are somewhat elaborately described : the 

 identification of the common genera, such as Lomaria, Pteris, 

 and Aspleniwn, occupies from five to seven lines, containing from 

 twelve to twenty synonyms, under which the genus, at some 

 period or other of its history, was recognized and described. It 

 is not the author's intention, as we learn from his title, to pub- 

 lish a Species Filicum, or, in plain English, to describe the spe- 

 cies. But it may be presumed that this portion of the work 

 will be as carefully prepared as those parts which treat of the 

 orders and genera. Thus it may be regarded as a condensed 

 view of all that is at present known about Ferns, and a complete 

 index to all that has ever been written on the subject. Hence 

 it will very materially abridge the labours of all future students 

 of this interesting family. 



But it will perhaps be more satisfactory to let the author ex- 

 plain his object and his plan in his own terms. " Free use has 

 been made of the statements, critical or otherwise, of those bo- 

 tanists who have devoted attention to the subject, the whole 

 being blended with such personal information as the author has 

 been able to bring to bear on the subject. The work is conse- 

 quently to be regarded mainly as a compilation. It has however 

 been the endeavour both of the author and the publisher to ren- 

 der it, as such, not only useful and readily available, but as free 



