INDIAN TREES 37 



has embodied in his book the observations of others. His work 

 therefore may, save for one omission — that of the Calcutta Her- 

 barium — for which Sir Dietrich expresses his regret, be considered 

 a complete resume of our knowledge of Indian trees, using the term in 

 the extended sense which appears on the title-page of the book. 



An extended notice of the volume could only be fitly undertaken 

 by an expert, but no intimate knowledge of the subject is required 

 in order to judge of the completeness with which Sir Dietrich has 

 executed the task he has set himself. He has not confined himself 

 to the common and important species, although these are naturally 

 his primary consideration, but has added in smaller type a large 

 number of others which he tells us he has " dealt with in a very 

 summary manner, " but which are nevertheless sufficiently diagnosed 

 to ensure recognition. 



The sequence of orders follows that of Bentham and Hooker, 



but their limitation in some cases is that of Engler and Prantl. 



The "practical advantage" of the division of certain groups is, as 



the author says, "very great," and we are glad to see Vaceiniacea 



combined with Ericaceae. In the matter of change of names, Sir 



Dietrich has exercised a conservatism which, although temporarily 



convenient, may perhaps be regretted ; it is not easy, for example, 



to see why Stephegyne should not be replaced by the earlier Mitra- 



gyna, although the author says he does not "feel justified" in 



making the .substitution and in his appendix (p. 711) discusses the 



question. But as the book must have been for the most part in 



type before the publication of the Vienna rules, conservatism was 



to be preferred to the system which lias added so many useless 



combinations to our already over-abundant synonymy. 



--•*---** • • • " ]e vernacular names, as 



to which Sir Dietrich's dictum that " if sifted with care [they] are 

 valuable whatever may be said to the contrary" is important, based 

 as it is on so many years' experience in the forest. The two 

 hundred figures, by Dr. Roland Anheisser of Cologne, add materi- 

 ally to the usefulness of the book in the field, from a botanical 

 standpoint, and also — which is less satisfactory — to its weight, for 

 we presume the heavy paper employed in the volume was rendered 

 necessary by their requirements; they include many species not, we 

 think, previously figured, the more common trees being omitted. 



The addition of twenty- three pages of addenda, made during 

 the printing of the book, shows the care that has been taken to 

 bring it up to date. We note among them what appears to be a 

 new species of poplar — Populus glauca Haines MSS. ; Nauclea 

 Gageana "King MSS." (p. 368) was published in the Flora of the 

 Malayan Peninsula^ but doubtless since Sir Dietrich's reference 

 was in type. 



The author modestly says that his book " is not intended for 

 botanists, it is written for the use of foresters and of practical 

 men," and of course, and very rightly, it is the latter whom he 

 primarily considers; but the work will find a place in every botanical 

 library as the most complete compendium of the subject of which 

 it treats. 



Considerable prominence is given to tl 

 phich Sir Dietrich's dictum that " if sif 



