The Ferns. Vol. I. By F. 0. Bower, Sc.D. (Cambridge
University Press. 30s. net.) In 1884 Professor Bower published his first paper on the Ferns. This was an early piece of original work, and since that time he has devoted himself almost entirely to the Ferns and their allies and to problems suggested by these plants, producing work of a quantity and a standard that cause him to be regarded as one of the greatest living authorities on them. The volume before us presents a critical discussion of the facts which can be used as a basis for working out the relations of these plants to each other, facts which we are told will be applied in a constructive manner in the second and concluding volume. • In 1908 Professor Bower, in his Origin of a Land Flora, gave us what was probably the best modern account of the Ferns, but that statement was only a very partial one ' • this new work has not the restrictions of the older one. Restrictions there are, however, and our author of set purpose does not deal in any detail with questions of function or of the interaction of these plants on their living and non-living environment ; points, indeed, on which comparatively little is known. The book contains a number of interesting facts not before recorded ; it is profusely illustrated, is written in the clear and simple style that we have come to associate with Professor Bower and is a masterly account of the group. The work, the latest addition to the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks, will be welcomed grate- fully by all students of these plants.
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