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REVIEWS 



Britton's Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada 



The most widely useful and influential books are those which 

 summarize in convenient form for students the results of a period 

 of notable scientific activity. Such a book we have in Dr. Brit- 

 ton's Manual.* 



When Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora appeared, in 

 1 896-1 898, botanists had a new and indispensable treatise on 

 our northeastern flora, but it was bulky and expensive. The 

 three royal octavo volumes of that work, which contained nearly 

 1900 pages, weighed 12^ pounds, and cost nine dollars, are 

 now digested and compressed into a single small volume of less 

 than 1 100 pages, which weighs not quite two pounds. The pages 

 of the new work, including the margins, are 7^ by 5 inches, 

 and the whole book, including the flexible linen covers, is I y% 

 inches thick. The paper is thin and the sewing is not too tight. 

 The book stays open. These mechanical features suggest at 

 once how usable the book will be in the field. 



Compared with the Illustrated Flora in its subject matter, the 

 Manual has shorter descriptions, omits synonymy and citations, 

 omits figures but includes references to them, and abbreviates 

 geographic names. The English system of measurements is re- 

 placed throughout in the Manual by the metric system. Many 

 new species are added, based particularly on the critical work of 

 Bicknell, Fernald, Greene, Nash, Rydberg, Scribner, and Small, 

 besides the work of Dr. Britton himself. The Manual contains, 

 for example, seven species of Antennaria, nine species of Sisy- 

 rincliium, and thirteen violets not figured in the Illustrated 

 Flora. 



The principal fault in the makeup of the book is the use of 

 two indexes instead of a single index, which causes annoyance 

 by accidental reference to the wrong one, and wastes time un- 

 necessarily. The lack of a species index to some of the large 

 genera will also cause annoyance, notably in the case of Carex, 



* Britton, N. L. Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada. 8vo. 

 Pp. x 4- 1080. 190I: New York : Henry Holt and Company. Price, $2.25. 



