191 



most of us would welcome twice the changes proposed in the 

 present work. For we have all, these many years, been clutching 

 rather wildly, sometimes almost deliriously, at what we hoped 

 was Light. 



Lack of space forbids a discussion of the many interesting 

 points that have arisen in a study of these three volumes. The 

 placing of Uvularia in Convallariaceae, and the failure to take 

 up Oakesia for Uvularia sessilifolia, are significant features. 

 Again, the splitting up of the old pink family into Corrigio- 

 laceae, Alsinaceae and Caryophyllaceae, and the position of 

 the first of these before Nyctaginaceae are quite in line with 

 modern ideas as to the affinities of these groups. Dr. Britton 

 has not maintained the genus Negundo, which has had some 

 adherents in this country and on the continent. Indeed the 

 failure to maintain this genus and a few more doubtful proposi- 

 tions of the same sort, together with the quelching of trinomials, 

 are practically the only reactionary tendencies in a work, other- 

 wise almost wholly modern. 



Mention should be made of the thousands of English and 

 vernacular names, all carefully indexed, many of them an inte- 

 gral part of the outdoor vocabulary of different sections of the 

 country. This most useful feature of the volumes is mostly the 

 work of the late Judge Brown, whose death, pathetically enough, 

 occurred six weeks before the book was finally published, and 

 only a few days before bound copies of the book were ready. 



The illustrations, binding (red) and press work are of a high 

 order, coming up in every way to the excellent standard set by 

 the first edition. The scheme of printing the index on specially 

 heavy paper is an excellent protection for a much used section 

 of the book. I have noticed only one error in the index, where 

 Hippocastanaceae is referred to i : 498 instead of to volume two, 

 the same page. 



In conclusion it may be said that the work is a sincere and 

 devoted attempt to bring our knowledge of the flora in eastern 

 North America up to date. It is an unusually successful effort 

 to combine all that the authors have stood for in the advance- 

 ment of systematic bcjtany in this country. Only the heartiest 



