THE FERX BULLETIN 



93 



the exchange will continue also to keep up the good 

 old practice of giving. The beginning members of 

 our Society want all but the very commonest ferns. 

 Indeed, we would not be surprised if an offer of the 

 common polypody would find many applicants, for we 

 do not all live in regions where the common polypody 

 lives up to its name. So whether you exchange or not, 

 don't forget to make the Society of use to new mem- 

 bers, by offering them the interesting species of your 

 region. Mention what you have to offer to the editor, 

 name the amount of postage on each specimen, and he 

 will do the rest. 



BOOKS AND WRITERS 



Volume 13, part 1 of "Contributions from the 

 United States National Herbarium" is devoted to a 

 second installment of studies of Tropical American 

 Ferns by William R. Maxon. Several new species of 

 Guatemalan ferns from the collection of Baron von 

 Turckheim are described with notes on other species! 

 In some observations on the bipinnate species of Cy- 

 atlica one new species is described and in a revision of 

 the West Indian species of Polystichum are severaf 

 more descriptions of new species and various new com- 

 binations. All the new species of the revision are illus- 

 trated, a very commendable feature. It is not two 

 much to say that all new species described now-a- 

 days should be accompanied by a satisfactory figure, 

 otherwise we are warranted in assuming that the nov- 

 elty claimed exists only in the imagination of the de- 

 scribed. We regret to note that this revision as usual 

 has resulted in new names displacing several well- 

 known old ones. 



Of the sixty-one species of ferns and fern allies 

 found in Great Britain, no less than forty-eight are 



