Recently Published Catalogues of British Plants. 129 
alternation in nature is not confined to the “ alternation of 
generations.” A really descriptive title would have been “The 
morphology of the Archegoniate sporophyte in the light of the 
theory of the antithetic origin of alternation of generations.” This 
is not nearly so attractive a title as the author’s, but there is a good 
deal to be said for accuracy of description in scientific titles. 
But when all criticisms have been made we may acknowledge 
gladly and gratefully that Professor Bower has laid the botanical 
world under a great debt by publishing a book so full of skilfully 
arranged fact and able analysis, a book easily excelling, in thorough¬ 
ness of treatment and in intimate first-hand acquaintance with the 
phenomena discussed, not only any existing work, hut, it is safe to 
say, any work on the subject that could have been produced by any 
other living botanist. A.G.T. 
REVIEW: 
Recently Published Catalogues of British Plants. 
List of British Seed-Plants and Ferns. London : The British 
Museum, 1907. [Compiled by Jas. Britten and A. B. Rendle.] 
List of British Plants, by G. C. Druce. Oxford : The Clarendon 
Press, January,1908. 
The London Catalogue of British Plants. Tenth Edition. 
London : George Bell & Sons, February, 1908. [Edited by 
F. J. Hanbury.] 
A Census Catalogue of British Mosses. York: Coultas and 
Volans, 1907. [Edited by Wm. Ingham.] 
rjlHE almost synchronous appearance of three catalogues of 
British vascular plants would seem to denote a much greater 
interest in field botany in this country than most people have 
been inclined to suspect. Of course, the adoption of International 
Rules of Botanical Nomenclature by the Botanical Congress at 
Vienna in 1905, is primarily responsible for the production of the 
new Museum and Oxford Catalogues, and of the new edition of 
the well-known London catalogue. There is probably not a sufficient 
demand for the continued sale of all three catalogues; and the 
operation of the law of natural selection will, we fear, result in an 
early elimination of the Museum catalogue. The absence, from 
this list, of varieties, of hybrids, of aliens, of extinct species, 
of an index of common British names, of Channel Island species, 
and, in fact, of all topographical information including even census 
numbers is fatal to its successful competition with its more virile 
rivals ; added to which a rather serious misprint in the numbering 
of the genera, and an irritating (but very necessary) list of 
corrections, published by the authors in a contemporary not in the 
hands of all purchasers of the catalogue, would seem to indicate a 
lack of that inherent vitality which is necessary in a successful 
struggle for existence. The Museum catalogue was the first of the 
three to be introduced after the adoption of the Vienna rules; 
and, although the lengthy list of corrections would appear to 
indicate that the catalogue had been compiled with undue haste, 
yet its simplicity of arrangement, its low price, its useful synonyms, 
and its index of orders arranged according to modern views of 
affiinity are all excellent characters which make us regret its 
inevitable consignment to the category of excluded forms. 
