i87 



REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 



A list, with descriptive notes, of all tiie species of IK'paties hitherto t'ouiKi 

 in the British Islands, by Henry William Lett, M.A., M.R.I. A., Rector ot 

 Aifhaderg, co. Down. Price 7s. 6d., to be obtained from the author, 

 Aj;-haderg' Glebe. Loug-hbrickland, co. Down, Ireland. 



This is one oi the latest aiklitions to the literature of tiie British Hcpatica;. 

 Hv the title of the book the author (^nly offers to yive a list iit all the known 

 species of these plants hitlierto found in the I^riiish Islantls with descriptive 

 notes. 



He states in the preface that the lang'uaj^'e of the work is not that usualh' 

 found in botanical books, which needs the assistance of ii dictionar}' of 

 botanical terms, but simple plain Entjlish. 



Fiir conciseness oi' description the use of tiie simple botanical terms 

 generally employed appear to be much more appropriate than the words 

 ' back and front' applied to the description of a plant. The author gives 

 an explanation of his reason for the use of these terms, from which it ma\' 

 be gathered he describes the ' front ' of a le.'if or stem as the uppei- or 

 antical surface, and the ' back ' as the under or postical surface. 



.Some of the botanical terms in g-eneral use, such as areokie, bracts, 

 cahptra, capsule, elaters, gemma;, etc., are used by abbreviations, which 

 the author explains, and to these might have been added the words antical 

 antl [lostical for the upper and under surface of leaf and stem. 



There are 61 names of g-enera g;iven in the list, with short descripti\e 

 characters of each. In the descriptive notes of the 243 species, the most 

 distinctive characters of each are printed in italics, which is a help to the 

 student, but as many are difflcult to determine without the aid of drawings, 

 Mr. Pearson's work, ' Hepatica; of the British Isles,' with figures and 

 descriptions of all known British species, will still be required. Mr. Pearson 

 has followed the classification oi' the late Dr. R. Spruce, whose classical 

 work, * Hepalica? Amazonicje et Andina?,' published by the Edinbiugh 

 Botanical Society, 1884, is one of the best works on this tribe of plants ever 

 written. The ' Conspectus Hepaticarum ' of Spruce, in vvhich he arranges 

 these plants into sub-orders, tribes, and sub-tribes, is by far the most natural 

 arrangement we have seen, and is now generally followed by all the best 

 ■writers on them, both on the continents of Europe and America. 



Canon Lett might have given an outline of it and arranged his 61 genera 

 after this ' Conspectus ' ; it would have added greatly to the value of his list, 

 and possibh' not much to the cost of the book. 



The names of the species in this work are, without exception, printed 

 with small initial letters. We consider it better that specific names given 

 in honour of eminent botanists or travellers should be prefixed by capital 

 letters, as is the general rule amongst botanists. 



In the December numbei' of the 'Journal of Rotan\- ' for 1902, p. 422, 

 there is a comprehensive notice of this work by S. M. M., to which our 

 readers' attention Uiay be called. Several inaccuracies are there pointetl 

 out which should not have occurred, seeing' that the descriptions have been 

 recently dniwn up in nearly ever\' instance from freshly-gathered specimens. 

 Canon Lett has followed Dumortier by placing the Jungermania Duniana 

 Hook in the genus Bazzaiiia Gra\', see page 173. which is perhaps the 

 gfreatest error in the book. 



Spruce described amongst his South American gatherings a sub-genus of 

 Jiiugcrninnia under the name A/iasfi'ophvllii/ii, and considersy^. Doniaita H. 

 the one European species belonging; to this group. It certainly is not 

 a Bazzania, and if not put under Spruce's sub-generic name, it would have 

 been better kept cLH Jtiiigermanja Doniana Hook (for this see the description 

 oi AnasfrophyUmu Spruce in 'Journal of Botany ' for 1876, p. 235). 



The index in Canon Lett's book is novel in havingf the specific names 

 placed before the generic ones, and we cannot see anv advantage in 

 departing from the plan generally followed. 



The book will be useful to beginners, and students get in a handy form, 

 at a cost within the reach of all, a very comprehensive list of the British 



1903 May I. 



