229 



in the key to the species of Tectaria (p. 45) are based on one char- 

 acter hard to make out and another which is inconstant. As the 

 figure testifies, the basal lobes of T. minima are as often as not 

 much smaller than the terminal lobe. The key to these species 

 in the Flora of the Southeastern United States is better; a still 

 better one could be made by utilizing characters of root-stock, 

 shape of areolae and indusium. I have dwelt in some detail 

 on this point, a minor one so far as the present work is concerned, 

 because carelessly made and inaccurate keys constitute a serious 

 defect in a good deal of present-day systematic work. The 

 making of a good and practicable key takes time and labor — 

 more, apparently, than many authors are willing to put into it; 

 but it is time well spent. For not only are good keys a vast 

 aid and comfort to the user of them, but their making clarifies, 

 as perhaps nothing else will, the author's own conceptions of 

 species and groups. 



I have ventured on so much of criticism, on somewhat tech- 

 nical lines, because it is of rather broad application. If it has 

 assumed too great a prominence, I am sorry. For Dr. Small's 

 little book, dealing from full knowledge with a region of especial 

 interest, has a very real value to the student of plant distribution ; 

 and for fern-lovers who go south, it leaves little to be desired. 

 Their only regret will be that he did not extend it to cover the 

 ferns of all Florida. 



C. A. Weatherby 



Billy, the Boy Naturalist* 



To those brought up in the city, or worse still in the sophisti- 

 cated suburbs, the production of a book like this, and the mental 

 vista of its writer back to wholesome outdoor memories is at once 

 a joy and a despair. Few can have such a fragrant memory of 

 youthful pleasures in the simple things of nature, and the loss to 

 our viewpoint, if not in our powers of observation is never quite 

 overcome. 



* Murrill, W. A. Billy, the Boy Naturalist, the true story of a naturalist's 

 boyhood in Virginia just after the Civil War. Pp. 1-252 -|- 48 illustrations. 

 W. A. Murrill, Bronxwood Park, N. Y. City. 1918. Price $1.50. 



