94 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



also found in North America. This singular duplica- 

 tion of our fern flora on "the other side" makes the 

 literature of the ordinary British ferns of unusual in- 

 terest to us. It was not so long ago, when for want 

 of popular handbooks of our own on the subject, we 

 resorted to such interesting little British guides as 

 Cooke's "Fern book for Everybody" and Moore's 

 "British Ferns," and even in view of the flood of re- 

 cent American books on ferns, these foreign works 

 have not lost their value and each new volume is wel- 

 comed by a considerable audience in America. The 

 latest of these is a book by Edward Step entitled 

 "Wayside and Woodland Ferns" the last of a series 

 of volumes on plants treated in a similar way. In 

 the present volume the author gives us a colored plate 

 of every species as well as a photograph of the plant 

 in its surroundings. The colored plates are not very 

 remarkable but the photographs are excellent. There 

 are also several illustrations of parts of fronds, sori, 

 rootstocks, etc. Along with the plates is more or 

 less matter of popular nature covering some 120 pages 

 and giving information as to where the ferns grow, 

 their reputed properties, folk-lore, etc. Each spe- 

 cies is also described in untechnical language. The 

 book is small enough to go into an ordinary pocket and 

 is designed to accompany the fern collector on his 

 rambles. It is published by Frederick Warne & Co., 

 New York at $2.35. 



Early in the Autumn, Messrs. Ginn & Co. will bring 

 out a small volume entitled "Laboratory Botany for 

 the High School" by Willard N. Clute. In this book 

 which is designed to cover a year's work in high school 

 botany the author has departed considerably from simi- 

 lar manuals now in use. Instead of outlining what the 



