garding the uses, folk-lore and common names of the ferns, every 

 available book and publication was searched. The descriptions of 

 species, however, were not taken from books, but drawn from the 

 specimens themselves. Special trips were made to distant locali- 

 ties in order that the haunts of each species might be accurately 

 described. In the case of rare species, especial pains have been 

 taken to give full details about them, in order that others may be 

 helped in looking for them. There is an illustrated key to the 

 genera — the first ever published — and also a check-list of all the 

 species, besides an extensive glossary. The illustrations are more 

 than 200 in number and several of them are colored. They are 

 the work of W. W. Stilson, and it is no exaggeration to say that 

 none better have ever appeared in any fern book. Every species 

 is illustrated and in many cases several different illustrations of 

 the same species are given. 



In the six years that have elapsed since the publication of the 

 Fern Chapter's list of North American Ferns, most of our species 

 have become better known and our ideas regarding their range 

 and abundance have been modified accordingly. Many new 

 species have also been described and for some time the need of a 

 new list has been apparent. In issuing his " List of the Ferns "|| 

 Mr. Maxon has supplied this lack and rendered students a valua- 

 ble service. The care he has taken to exclude all plants wrongly 

 identified, and his endeavors to verify all doubtful references in 

 preceding works, has given us an excellent list and one whose data 

 we feel can be relied upon. If he has erred at all in the matter of 

 range, it is upon the conservative side— as in limiting Pteris cau- 

 data to southern Florida, when it is known to grow in several of 

 the other Gulf States as well. Another important and valuable 

 feature of this list is the full synonomy given, together with the 

 date and place of publication of each name. This is something 

 for which fern students have often wished. In view of the gen- 

 eral excellence of other parts of the work, it is to be regretted that 

 the nomenclature used is out of all relation to the customary 

 usages of fern study. Take for instance Asplenium dentatum L. 

 which the author would have us call A. trichomanes-dentatum. 

 In this case it is almost certain that had Linnaeus been acquainted 



A List of the Ferns and Fern Allies of North America, North of Mex- 

 ico, by William R. Maxon. From Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXIII, pp. 618- 

 651. Washington: May 4, 1901. 



