SHORT NOTES 
263 
Linarta yisctda Mill. On the 1st September I was in Headley 
Lane, Mickleham, and in a clearing on the left-hand side going 
towards Headley I found a number of plants of this species, hut of a 
curious stunted form 1 have not before met with. Whether it was 
due to the prevailing drought I cannot say, but every plant instead 
of being upright and more or less slender, as is usual, was only about 
2 to 3 inches in height and all the growth, branches, leaves, and 
flowers, was in a compact mass almost ball-like in form. Is this a 
known form of this plant ? I can find no reference to it in my 
various floras. On the same cleared patch were many fine seedlings 
of Verbascum Thapsus , promising plants of Atropci Belladonna 
(some in flower and fruit), and many exceedingly well-grown speci¬ 
mens of Ajuga Chamcepitys in full flower, some of them being a foot 
across with all the branches except the centre one prostrate.—• 
C. Nicholson. 
Euphorbia Lathyris L. In the British Museum List of 
British Seed Blants we printed this name as Lathyrus , following 
in so doing Sp. PI. ed. 1 (p. 457), where Linnaeus quotes as synonyms 
“ Lathyrus major Bauh. pin. and Lathyrus Cam. epit., Fuchs hist.” 
In Sp. PI. ed. 2, however (p. 655) the name is given as Lathyris , 
and a reference to Bauhin shows that he (and early authors generally) 
so spelt it: there can therefore be no doubt that Lathyrus was, as 
Mr. Groves (who called my attention to it) suggests, a misprint 
which should not be retained.— James Britten. 
REVIEWS. 
The Ferns (Filicales). Volume I. By F. 0. Bower, Sc.D., LL.I)., 
E.R.S. Cambridge University Press, 1923. Royal Svo, 
359 pp., with frontispiece and 309 illustrations. Price 30s. n. 
Of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks that have so far appeared, 
this introductory treatise on Ferns will arouse the greatest interest, 
not only from a recognition of the status of the Regius Professor in 
the University of Glasgow as a teacher, but from the critical import¬ 
ance of these plants in any scheme of the evolution of Land Flora. 
Such a work from the pen of an acknowledged authority will constitute 
the text-book for another generation of English Students, and its 
value cannot be over-estimated. Professor Bovver introduces, a new 
feature in leading off with a philosophical introduction, including a 
quotation from R. L. Stevenson, and the text is arranged rather as an 
“ analytical examination of the criteria of comparison ” ; as, that is 
to say, recognizing, describing in detail, and evaluating the several 
features which are most suitable for the treatment of the group; 
with special reference again to fossil records and ontogeny, as an 
attempt at arriving at a sound basis for the phyletic grouping of the 
Filicineie ; while the more synthetic treatment is promised for a second 
volume. 
