70 



made for it by Dr. Small and becomes H. pycnocarpus. Exactly 

 half of the names used for the ferns, and a much larger pro- 

 portion for the fern allies are those used both in Gray's New 

 Manual and in Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora. And of 

 the others at least one half are the names used in one or the other 

 of these works. 



In an effort to make the book useful to the beginner in fern 

 study not only have the keys and descriptions been made as 

 simple as is consistent with accuracy, but Anglo-Saxon terms — 

 such as leaf and petiole — are used instead of the terms of Latin 

 or Greek derivation, such as frond and stipe. The amateur fern 

 student, however, may object to the common names of the 

 ferns being given inconspicuous places at the end of the formal 

 descriptions. We note, too, that in the descriptions of Salaginella 

 and Isoetes the terms antherids and archegons are used but 

 under Salvinea the terms antheridia and archegonia — the latter 

 forms are the only ones used in the glossary. 



At the end of the book there is a Taxonomic List of the 

 different names given each fern, with the places of publication 

 and the dates, a Comparative List of the names in this volume 

 and in Gray's Botany and Britton and Brown's Flora, a list of 

 Authorities Cited, a Glossary and the Index. 



George T. Hastings 



