156 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. 



evolution of an order or large group of which he does not know one- 

 quarter of the species, while of the quarter he has got before him 

 20 per cent, have got wrong names. 



But — there is another side — one almost regrets the valuable 

 labour expended in the mere literary finish and press-work of a 

 treatise on 69 species of Indian Pedicularis. Too much pains can- 

 not be bestowed on such work ; it is not necessary always to publish 

 all the details of good work, or to publish them in so heavy and 

 expensive a form. Moreover, though full publication in a large 

 treatise is very convenient to the next monographer who can spend 

 time in mastering all the views and verbiage of his predecessor, a 

 more concise form, with summary of results, is the more convenient 

 for the much larger band of workers who wish to make use of the 

 monographer's results without wading through all his processes. 

 The geography in Dr. Prain's memoir is fully and carefully done ; 

 but it would take much time to convert the information, for 

 instance, so that the distribution of Pedicularis might be compared 

 with that of some other genus of plants or insects. 



The plan of writing diagnoses of 150 words without any stops is 



open to comment. The only reason for not using stops is a supposed 



scientific propriety or tradition, viz., that stops may be used in a 



description in the nominative case, not in diagnoses in the ablative 



case. But this is not so; Linnaeus, in the very short diagnoses in 



the second edition of Species Plantar um, uses a stop (comma) before 



each substantive ; so did E. Brown, the DeCandolles, Bentham, and 



Hooker ; Linnaeus and most writers use a heavier punctuation in 



the descriptions. Stops undoubtedly save time, even in short 



diagnoses; but, when Dr. Prain employs diagnoses of 120-180 



words, he should surely give every assistance to those who have to 

 work with them. 



Dr. King's Magnoliacece is a much shorter and simpler paper, 

 but of much practical importance, as several species of Magnolias 

 afford very fine timber; especially the beautiful M. Campbell ii 

 Hook, t et T. Thorns., formerly abundant round Darjeeling. Dr. 

 King describes 46 species of Magnoliacem as against 27 recorded in 

 Hooker's Flora of British India : six of the species are here described 

 for the first time, and several other species are Dr. King's own, 

 having been first published by him in the Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 

 v. 58, pars 2. Every Indian species is figured in the paper under 

 review, which will make it very valuable to forest officers. Dr. 

 King has abstained from all speculations concerning evolution in 

 time, &c, and has presented his information (much of which is new 

 regarding even the old species) in the simplest form. His diagnosis 

 (and description combined) of each species is in English, fully 

 punctuated. The paper is much easier to get at than Dr. Prain's, 

 but it may be doubted whether it was easier to write. The material 

 for large trees in India is often imperfect ; the matching of fruiting 

 and flowering specimens often difficult, sometimes uncertain ; the 

 flowers of a large Magnolia tree in fall blossom are prominent two 

 miles off across a ravine 3000 ft. deep ; when you stand under the 

 tree you can see none of those on the tree; grave mistakes have 

 originated by picking up flowers under the tree. 



