Welsh Journals

Reviews. WELSH FERNS," A DESCRIPTIVE HANDBOOK. By H. A. Hyde, M.A.. and A. E. Wade, F.L.S., pages 131, with 67 illustrations and 10 plates. 1940 Price, 5/ The publication of this excellent descriptive handbook of Welsh Ferns by the National Museum of Wales is very welcome since no comprehensive fern flora of this kind is now in print. The book has been written jointly by the Keeper of Botany and the Assistant in the Department. The aim of the authors is threefold: first, to enable the beginner to identify all the ferns he sees growing wild in Wales; second, to present the Welsh ferns in an evolutionary setting and thus to display the inter- relationships of the various families and sub-families, and finally to suggest the relationships of the Welsh fern flora to that of the world in general. The main part of the book consists of the descriptions of the Welsh species, the scheme of classification being based on that of Dr. Carl Christensen. Explanatory notes are inserted here and there, based for the most part on the writings of Professor F. O. Bower. The actual descriptions have all been written anew from the specimens themselves. Brief descriptions of the other British species not occurring in Wales have also been added. Each specific description is followed by a helpful note on the kind or kinds of habitat m which the plant is found in Wales and of its distribution in Wales and elsewhere. In order to facilitate the identification of specimens in the field, a complete series of keys has been provided, those to the species being placed under the headings of the respective genera, while a key to the genera themselves precedes the descriptive catalogue. The Introduction to the book contains an account of the life-history of a typical common fern, the Male Fern. Dryopteris Filix-mas. which is followed by in explanation of the technical terms used in the descriptions of Ferns. This will be of great value in helping a beginner to understand and use the specific descriptions. An outline of the evolution of ferns and the criteria used in their classifica- tion. followed by a brief account of the geographical distribution of Welsh ferns, serves to show the inter-relationships of the various families and sub-families and suggests the relationships of the Welsh fern flora to that of the world in general. Although out of 6,000 or so known species of ferns only forty inhabit Wales, these comprise representatives of twenty of the 150 known genera and six out of a total of sixteen families. Thus the Welsh fern flora is much more widely representative of the class of ferns than its small size would lead one to expect. The book is well illustrated throughout, the bulk of the text figures con- sisting of excellent line drawings designed to illustrate features emphasised in the