





sak inion. It must be pari wo Sees, 
ike, and va 
, John Gilbert Baker, P. L. S., Assistant pkio 
tt, 11. 
REVIEWS. 
—r*oo— 
Ferns.*— This valuable addition to the library of the student of Ferns, 
long waited for, and delayed in its first stages of publication by the death 
ready prep 
ceived after that had been written, and to put the whole in condition for 
publication. 
The title of the book, “ Synopsis Filicum,” conveys the idea of a Bec 
and condensed description and notice o f the “ known Ferns,” and such it 
is, while it also plays the part of a supplement to the “Species pila +s 
the same author, upon which he was engaged for many years. ió 
the preface tells us, “the Author, having recently completed his ‘ Spe- 
cies Filicum, now offers to the public a ‘Synopsis of all known Ferns, 
which contains, besides brief diagnoses of the species desc ribed more in 
detail in that work, together with their geographical distribution as far 
his 
wledge 
One thing to whi ch special reference is made in the preface is, that all 
descriptions of ferns, which have been so badly or carelessly drawn up 
a it is impossible to identify which of a number of species a descrip- 
on refers to, and which Pteridologists have, with much labor, 
, aah inad, mek additions and corrections as have come to 
ge 
saga to true progress in their science, drag r them, 
ve been omitted and ignored. This at once reduces very much the 
itis a great 
wae ber of specific names, and as they are nothing but names, 
ef, 
The forms considered worthy to rank as species have been somewhat 
reduced in number by the authors, since they have regarded as varieties 
In much of this we cer- 
ould wish to record a difference of 
that the authors have had 
existence, the formation 
d numer- 
tainly concur, but in some cases 
of net of the largest Fern Herbarium in ex 
ich began as far back as 1811, and any one who has han 
ous specimens of ferns cannot but have observed how som 
a intermediate stages, into what appear at first to be 
orms pass 
sis different 
a he, Mirat s Filicum; or a Synopsis of all known Ferns, including the Osmun 
2 Panied by tiacem, and Ophiogl ossaceæ (chiefly derived from the Herbarium): Accom- 
: Ss representing the essential character of each 
H., D.C. L., F. R. S., A. S., and L §., Director © 
e a ae wes London: 
Robert 
Hardwicke, 192 Piccadilly. 1868, 8v0, PP- eir 
tThis is the 
th Seu, Seed wees work of Sir W. J. Hooker. ss i 
i o (601) 
AMER, NATURALIST, VOL. I. 76 

