Fra?icis's British Ferns. 38 1 



The work of Schiodte is confined to one of the groups of 

 sand-wasps (Pompilidae), and is a very carefully executed 

 memoir. The genera introduced into the family by the 

 author are, Ceropales, Agenia Sc/i. (variegata Linn., and 

 bifasciata Fabr.), Priocnemis Sc/i. (hyalinatus Fabr., &c, 7 

 species), Pompilus (10 species), and Epysiron Sch. (rufipes 

 Linn.). These genera and species are described in detail ; 

 the genera being chiefly established upon variations in the 

 structure of the trophi and legs. A plate, full of details, 

 represents these generic variations. 



Art. II. An Analysis of the British Ferns and their Allies, "with 

 Copperplate Engravings of every Species and Variety. By 

 George W. Francis, Author of a " Catalogue of British Flower- 

 ing Plants and Ferns." London. 



This elegant little volume on the British ferns we can 

 most heartily recommend, having seldom met with a scientific 

 work, on the same scale, which has altogether pleased us so 

 much. The author has evidently collected his materials with 

 the greatest care ; and the engravings are complete models of 

 neatness and accuracy. We are also especially pleased with 

 the frank independence and straightforward manner with 

 which the writer introduces the results of his labours to the 

 public. There is none of the cant, and affected conscious- 

 ness of incompetency and want of ability for the task he has 

 undertaken, which so often garnishes the first attempts of let- 

 terpress aspirants. He does not come forward at the " solicit- 

 ation of numerous friends," but because he knows that the 

 information he has to offer upon the subject of which he writes 

 is really worth printing and publishing ; and he has therefore 

 ventured to bring out his work in a style, and at a price, 

 which an extensive sale can only repay. An extract from 

 the preface will give our readers a better idea of the contents 

 of the book than any summary of our own. 



" Should the reader ask why I write at all, I answer, because the only 

 book ever published upon this subject (Bolton's Filices Britannicje) has 

 long been out of print, and so much difference of opinion exists as to the 

 identity of some species, and the arrangement of others, that I thought a 

 plain and practical synopsis like the present would be useful to the tyro 

 at least, if not to the practical botanist. 



" The materials from which it has been compiled are these : I inspected 

 all the Herbaria to which I had access, gathered wild and cultivated fronds 

 wherever I could procure them, and wrote to most of our first-rate botanists 

 for specimens, remarks, and habitats : all these being collected, arranged, 

 and studied, they were described and engraved without reference to any 



