CURRENT LITERATURE. 
BOOK -REVIEWS. 
How to know the ferns. 
THE author of ‘* How to know the wild flowers” (then Mrs. William Starr 
Dana) has already proved a charming guide to many lovers of nature. To 
introduce the same large class, in the same way, to such attractive plant 
forms as the ferns should bring to theauthor renewed expressions of gratitude. 
She writes of ‘ferns as a hobby,” “when and where to find ferns,” “ fertiliza- 
tion, development, and fructification of ferns,” and then begins her “ fern 
descriptions.” Fifty-seven species are selected for description and illustra- 
tions. The descriptions are not technical, and the general accounts of haunts 
and habits, and the literary allusions are just what one would expect from 
the author. 
The artists should receive more than a passing commendation of shale 
work, for not only is it truthful, but the graceful forms have lent themselves 
to most artistic treatment. 
Itisa pleasure to meet a book, designed for popular use, so well written 
and illustrated. If ‘ How to know the ferns ” does not induce many who are 
not botanists to take “ferns as a hobby” we are mistaken in our judgment. — 
Lowson’s text-book of botany.” 
Tuts book has certain limitations which must have interfered with the 
author’s freedom. It is especially adapted “for the London University, 
Intermediate Science, and Preliminary Scientific Examinations.” Taking 
merely the statement of facts, the author is clear and modern, presenting 
many things refreshingly in advance of the text-books, and current only in 
the university lectures of men who are at work. 
Just where the author’s responsibility ends and the demands of the formi- 
dable structure for which the book is adapted begin is not easy to tell, but we 
* PARSONS, FRANCES THEODORA.— How to know the ferns; a guide to the 
names, haunts, and habits of our common ferns. Illustrated by Marion Satterlee and 
Alice Josephine Smith. 8vo. pp. xiv+21s. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 
1899. 
? Lowson, J. M.— A text-book on botany. The University tutorial series. 5v0 
PP- viii+-394. London: W. B. Clive. New York : Hinds & Noble (Cooper Tostitalel: 
No date of publication; date of preface October 1898. 
484 [JUNE 
