296 REVIEWS. [December, 



"THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. — BOTANICAL EXCHANGE CLUB. 



" Information and Instriictmi to Contributors. 



" I. It is required that the specimens contributed shall have been dried 

 carefully, and that without exceeding the size of half a sheet of demy they 

 fm-nish as complete illustrations of the species they represent as circum- 

 stances wiU admit. 



" II. To each specimen sent for exchange must be fastened a written or 

 printed label, furnishing the following items of information, viz. 1st, the 

 number and name of the plant, with the authority for the latter, as given 

 in the latest edition of the London Catalogue, or, if a Moss, in the ' Bryo- 

 logia Britannica ; ' 3nd, the locality, county, and date ; 3rd, the name of 

 the collector and contributor. 



" III. In furnishing lists of desiderata, it is requested that the London 

 Catalogue and ' Bryologia Britannica ' be followed as standards of nomen- 

 clature and arrangement. 



" IV. It is proposed to send out the return packets as early in the year 

 as practicable, beginning with 1858 ; and to distribute each spring a re- 

 port of the operations of the Club and a Kst of its desiderata. 



John G. Baker, John H. Davies, Curators. 

 Richard D. Carter, Secretary." 



The Handbook of British Ferns. By Thomas Moore, F.L.S., 

 F.H.S., etc. Third Edition. London : Groombridge and 

 Sons; W. Pamplin. 



The literature of Ferns is in a palmy state. Judging by the 

 distinct publications on this branch of botanical science^ it sur- 

 passes that of all the other branches together. There are now, 

 thanks be to the authors and the public both, at least a score of 

 works on the British Ferns, and aU of them enjoying what may 

 be called triumphant success. Among works of science their 

 celebrity is unprecedented. 



One of the most useful of these, and they are all good, is the 

 work which we have now the pleasure of announcing. We re- 

 member^ warmly commending the second edition ; the third how- 

 ever far exceeds its predecessor, both in beauty and utility. The 

 additional matter in this new edition occupies upwards of sixty 

 pages. Several changes have been made in the classification ; for 

 example, Adiantum, Cystopteris, Woodsia, Gymnogramma, and 



