OUR COUNTRY’S FLOWERS, AND HOW TO KNOW THEM. $13 
Carex moniliformis is not Tuckerman’s. It is Britton’s, and dates 
from 1889. Olney’s name dates from 1868, and I see no other way 
than to make Britton’s name a synonym of Olney’s, as we have 
already done with recent names for all species. And if the var. 
ane lt of C. scoparia should be erected into a species—what 
then ? 
‘‘ They tell me that if botanists had always followed the methods 
of zoologists, using the oldest specific name in whatever genus, we 
should have been all right now. But, as we did not start in this 
way, I do Hot see the force of the statement. 
‘** One of the most mischievous features of the whole thing is the 
ease with which o_o of local floras obtain a cheap notoriety by 
aking new combinations,—which will likely be changed by the 
next siatalogacr and = extent to which it fosters the notion that 
making a new name and differing from an authority are the chief 
ends of systematic botany. 
We have nothing to add to this clear statement of the position, 
and we have little doubt that the rational views it advocates will 
ultimately prevail. The warning in Prof. Bailey’s last paragraph 
—that the new combinations ‘ will likely be changed by the next 
oo. ’—has been fully exemplified by the action of Dr. 
Britton. May we then suggest, to him and his followers, that it 
will be desirable to wait a little before anamatare” for a second 
time, so far as is in their poner, botanica. nelatur ~~ before 
adding to our already overburdened liste. a mass bd ee onymy 
which can serve no u 
Due a ery Flowers, and how to know them: being a complete 
Guide to the Flowers and Ferns of Britain, By W. J. 
xvon. With an Introduction by the Rev. G. Henstow. 
Iilustrated by Joun ALLEN, with over one thousand examples 
colour and outline. London: Day & Son. [1891.] Dp. 
v. 154. ea 
free from the inaccuracies which usually disfigure books of the kind. 
The first tae is rg oted to an alphabetical list of * local 
names’’ of plants, evidently taken without discrimination from the 
Dictionary of English Plant-names, though this is not stated, and 
occasionally including plants which are not British. Then we 
come to ‘‘ Classification,” followed by a ‘‘ Tabular Scheme,’ and a 
chapter on the ‘‘ Natural Orders.”” Then come “ Examples of 
‘Identifieation,” followed by a Glossary, and “Contents of the 
coloured Plates.” The 33 plates are crude in colouring, and 
terribly crowded; the frequent oe an —— on es 
petals of the plants gives them an pearance. 
cases, as it seems to us, a hehowled ge: oft a lant i is me tics 
