The Student's Handbook of British Mosses

Abstract

THIS well-known work has now been re-issued in a third edition which will prove very welcome to bryologists. Thinner paper, improved type, and new drawings for many of the plates serve to make the volume both of more convenient size and also more attractive. Much new material has been incorporated oembodying the essence of recent work on this subject. The glossary and instructions are fuller, and more conveniently placed in reference to the illustrations, while the plates contain a large number of additional details. This is especially noticeable in the illustrations of Bryum, where capsules are now figured for most of the species. Bryum purpureum on Plate XLII. should, however, presumably be B. purpurascens, and there are also slips in the lettering of Plates XII. and XVII. In the former case (Campylopus) the figures lettered A to E should be C, D, E, A, and B, while in the latter case (Fissidens) the plates D, E, and F are incorrectly described at the foot of the page, although correct in the text. Slight modifications have been made in the treatment of the Sphagna, Dicranum, and Thiudium. Stirton's names are indicated in the synonymy where necessary, but the previous treatment of these names has not always been maintained. Zygodon teichophilus Stirt. is now given as Z. lapponicus instead of Z. Stirtoni (as in the Journal of Botany, 1923, p. 69), while Mollia thrausta Stirt., p. 245, is not now taken as equivalent to Trichostomium tortuosum var. fragipolium. The quality of the book is quite maintained at its former high and critical standard, and it will continue to be invaluable to workers in this field.

The Student's Handbook of British Mosses.

H. N.

Dixon

By. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Pp. xlviii+582+63 plates. (Eastbourne: V. V. Sumfield; London: Wheldon and Wesley, Ltd., 1924.) 24s.