—94— 



picked out from the printed page. All who have been 

 obliged to consult the literature of a subject will appre- 

 ciate the difficulty of discovering a reference to any spe- 

 cies when not italicized. It seems safe to conclude, from 

 the practice of scientific writers that the words used for 

 genera and species are primarily names. If this is true, 

 there can be no objection to our making plurals after the 

 English method. It is the practice by many at present to 

 either write a plural after the Latin or Greek form and 

 italicize it, or give it the English plural and print it in 

 Roman, but we maintain, for reasons just stated, that it 

 is entirely proper to use such terms as -Woodwardias and 

 Polypodiums in italics. The reasons for our desire to so 

 write them being that the italic plurals are often not 

 familiar to young students, while to write the English 

 plural and not italicize them renders them likely to be 

 overlooked. In any event, we purpose adopting this 

 scheme for this journal, and suggest that other writers 

 will find it a desirable plan to adopt. 



BOOK NEWS. 



The long expected book on the Fern Allies * is at last 

 ready. As announced, it is a companion volume to " Our 

 Ferns in Their Haunts," by the same author, and the 

 species have received similar treatment. The cosmopoli- 

 tan character of a great many of the plants has made it 

 possible to include in this single volume all the species in 

 North America north of Mexico. The species are accu- 

 rately described from authentic specimens, and all are 

 illustrated, this latter feature being one that has not here- 

 tofore been attempted. Everything of interest that is 

 known about each species is given in the text, and there 

 are six keys to the genera and species. There is also a 

 check-list of the species, with synonomy, an extended 

 glossary, and two indexes. The illustrations in black 

 and white number 156, exclusive of the initial letters, and 



* " The Fern Allies of North America." by Willard N. Clute. 

 Illustrated by Ida Martin Clute. New York, The F A. Stokes 

 Co., 1905; pp. 280; $2.00 net. 



