﻿by J. Christian Bay ; " Phenological Notes" and " 

 of Pronuba from the Yucca capsules," by J. C. Whitten; and two 

 important systematic papers, fully illustrated, on "The Sugar 

 Maples, with a winter synopsis of all North American Maples," 

 and a "Eevision of the North American Species of Gayophytum and 

 Boisduvalia," by Mr. Trelease, who also contributes shorter notes 

 and observations and the Annual Report of the Garden. As usual, 

 the printing, paper and illustrations are most satisfactory. 



We observe with satisfaction that the eloquence displayed at 

 the Annual Banquet of the Trustees of the Garden is this year 

 conspicuous by its absence. The "Annual Flower Sermon" by 

 "Rt. Rev. Thomas U. Dudley, Bis! is, however, 



given in full, and is as flowery as its title suggests. The injunction 

 to "consider the lilies" is thus amplified by Bishop Dudley:— 

 "The toiling artisan, the thousand-handed spinner of to-day, doth 

 vainly endeavor to fashion the fabric whose velvet softness shall not 

 be as haircloth by the side of the delicious touch of the lily's coat. 

 The artist has not yet learned, after his centuries of endeavor, to mix 

 the color which can bring the joy to the eye which flares from the 

 rosetree, or soothes with its gentle radiance from the green sward." 

 When Bishop Dudley has taken a summer holiday in Switzerland, 

 he will modify his opinion of wild strawberries : " Come measure 

 the giant strawberry nestling in its luxurious bed, luscious with 

 sweetness and full to bursting of the sunshine, and then look on its 

 poverty-stricken ancestor, sour and tasteless, bringing no satis- 

 faction to the timorous hunger which is bold to consume it." 

 "Come note," he says, "that the microscope discloses miracle of 

 perfection in the curious fabric of the fern leaf, more wonderful 

 perhaps than in that of the mammoth palm tree, though all here is 

 miracle." There are fifteen pages of this, and Bishop Dudley got 

 two hundred dollars for it ! 



m It is announced that Grevillm will in future be issued at 

 irregular intervals, each number containing thirty-two pages. 



Mb. Elliot Stock sends us a "cheaper edition" (3s. 6d.) of 

 A Manual of Exotic Ferns and Selaginella, by Mr. E. Sandford. 

 It seems a useful handbook from a practical point of view, but it is 

 to be regretted that the author did not obtain the help of a botanist 

 m revising his proofs. We should then have been spared such 

 references as "Brown, R., an English Botanist and Traveller, who 

 travelled a great deal in New Holland, and visited some of the first 

 Botanists of Europe " : "Hooker, a family of distinguished Botanists, 

 both past and present." Mr. Sandford cuts the Gordian knot of 

 nomenclature in this fashion : "In this little work there is no 

 pretence of the priority of any of the names, as that is open to such 

 conflict among authorities; but the whole names, or synonyms, 

 are to be found in different books under one or other of such 

 names." John Smith's classification is followed, and there is an 

 entire absence of reference to other works on ferns. The index is 

 perverse in a new way: it contains a full list of species, but the 

 only pages given are the first and last devoted to the genus— thus, 



