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REVIEW.

NEW ZEALAND FEBNB*

Since the publication of Sir J. Hooker's " Handbook to the New Zealand Flora," about seventeen years ago, so much additional knowledge has been acquired about our ferns, so many names have been altered, so many new speoies added, and the distribution of the species so much correoted and enlarged, that the "Hand Book" is quite out of date. Lovers of ferns and owners of ferneries will therefore gladly welcome this excellent little book, which presents them in a compendious form with all that is known about our ferns and fern allies up to the present time. The book describes briefly the structure, nomenclature and principles of classification of ferns; it then gives a description of each species, and concludes with hints on collecting and cultivating ferns, and glossaries of technical terms, and the meaning of the specifio names. It is illustrated by five capital plates representing forty-six species, with magnified drawings of the fructification of thirty-seven of the forty genera into whioh our ferns and fern allies have been divided. Mr Thomson's account of the structure of a fern is very simple and clear; three common species are seleoted, carefully examined, and the different parts described. The systematic portion has evidently been done with great care; of course it cannot satisfy everyone, as different botanists have different ideas of the amount of variation that a species should be allowed to include, but, on the whole, we are of opinion that Mr Thomson has managed this difficult part of his work very judiciously. A good synopsis of the tribes and genera, and keys to the species of each genus, will help the beginner very much in making out the names; indeed, without figures of eaoh species, more could not be done in this direction.

The hintß for cultivating ferns are practical and seem to be drawn from personal experience, but we should like to see added, in a »econd edition, instructions for growing ferns from spores, so that the development may be observed. It is quite easy to do this, and only requires care and patience. It is a pity that fern collectors should so rigorously follow each other in the same rut, that all should be contented with collecting, and either growing the plants or drying the fronds. No doubt healthy exeroise and much amusement can be got in this way, although comparatively little that is new can be learnt from it. But the process of development from the spore, is notyot known in any one of our ferns, and many interesting and important resnlts may be expected from the observations when made. Any one would find watching the development of ferns from the spores an occupation full of pleasure, and, if the different stages in each species were drawn, the occupation would be not only pleasant but useful to science.

• "The Ferns ana Fern Allies of New Zealand," by Q. M. Thomson, F.L.8., Sefence teacher in the Dunedin High Sohools. 1882. G. Robertson, Melbourne, and Wise, Caffin and Co., Dunedin.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18820203.2.29

Bibliographic details

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6533, 3 February 1882, Page 6

Word Count
505

REVIEW. Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6533, 3 February 1882, Page 6

REVIEW. Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6533, 3 February 1882, Page 6