850 LITHOGRAMS OF THE FERNS OF QUEENSLAND. 



on each side of the base of the column. M. triangularis of Lindley, 

 discovered by Linden in 1842, inhabits the central mountains of 

 Venezuela, according to a note sent by Consul Lehmann. M. 

 caudata Lindl. (= M. Shattleworthii Rchb. f.) is a well-known 

 species, as is also M. coccinea, though usually seen under its colour 

 forms, Lindeni and Harryana. The plate of M. coriacea is enriched 

 by figures of the seed-capsules, drawn from specimens preserved in 

 the Boissier Herbarium near Geneva, which were kindly lent to the 

 author. This species is interesting from the large nectaries at the 

 base of the lip, of which a good figure is given. Miss Woolward 

 reduces M. ludibiinda of Eeichenbach to a variety of M. Estrada of 

 the same author : — " The flowers of the variety are rather larger, 

 and the colours paler than in those of the type"; while "the dorsal 

 sepal is less erect and more concave, and the wings of the column 

 straighter and narrower." It seems probable that the number of 

 the Hamburg professor's species will be considerably reduced by the 

 end of the twenty-five years* for which his types are to remain 

 sealed up. A figure of the variety is included in the plate of 



Estrada. 



We cannot conclude without congratulating the author on ft 

 few improvements on previous parts. The illustrations are free 

 from the slight stiffness sometimes apparent in the earlier plates, 

 and seem altogether to have more feeling, as if the artist were 

 getting more in sympathy with the actual plants as the work pro- 

 gresses. Miss Woolward, who is responsible for the whole of the 

 work, has overcome the unfortunate modesty which did not 

 previously allow of her name appearing on the cover ; and Consul 

 Lehmann' s name no longer figures at the end of each description, 

 making him, to the careless observer, responsible for the whole, 

 while his valuable assistance as regards the habitat of many of 

 the plants is still amply acknowledged. We hope soon to see 



understand 



A. B. Rendle. 



Lithoyrams of the Ferns of Queensland. By Fredk. Manson Bailey, 



F.L.S., &c. Brisbane, 1892. Pp. 7, tt. 191. 



Mr. Bailey is active in his work on the vegetation of Queens- 

 land. Single-handed and alone in that portion of the great Australian 

 continent, he is doing for Queensland what Bentham and Von 

 Mueller accomplished for the whole land in the Flora Anstraliensis. 

 His Synopsis of the Queensland Flora, published nearly ten years a^o, 

 is a creditable work, and in the subsequent Supplements he exhibits 

 evidence of his more critical acquaintance with the Flora. In the 

 volume before us he gives illustrations of the known ferns of 

 Queensland. The plates are nature prints by a process which 

 produces what he calls lithoyrams. The result is not very satis- 

 factory. The general aspect is given, but the venation, on which 

 so much necessarily depends in the determination of ferns, can 

 seldom be detected on the plate. The page used being 8vo, has 

 compelled Mr. Bailey to give only fragments of the fronds in a 

 large number of cases. As he has kept before him economy in the 



