Welsh Journals

text. These will help greatly in the identification of the species. Several photographs are also included. Many of the species mentioned in the book occur in Montgomeryshire and the book will be of great interest and use to botanists and fern lovers in this county. It would be a valuable addition to reference libraries in schools and colleges in Wales. E.A.D. M.B. THE ROMAN LEGIONARY FORTRESS AT CAERLEON, MONMOUTHSHIRE. By V. E. Nash-Williams, M.A., F.S.A., pages 33, plates XIV, figures 5, folding maps in pocket 3. 1940. Price, 2' This well illustrated little book was published by the National Museum of Wales and the Press Board of the University of Wales. Although it is a guide to the Roman site, Isca, it can be warmly recommended to anyone interested in the Roman domination of Wales. The author has been in charge of most of the excava- tions carried out at Caerleon since 1926, and is, therefore, very well qualified for his task. Mr. Nash-Williams gives a description of the site and its buildings, which is based on accurately ascertained and recorded facts, but he does not overburden the general reader with indigestible and unnecessary details. He has shown a remarkable power of conveying a living picture of a legionary fortress and its inhabitants. The II Augustan Legion (badges, the Capricorn and the Pegasus), after serving in Spain was transferred to Germany about 10 A.D. From Strasburg it came to Britain in 43 A.D., and was commanded by Vespasian, who later became Emperor. After campaigning in the south-west, it crossed the Severn in 50 A.D. to fight against the Silures. When this people had been pacified, the legion estab- lished itself at Caerleon, which was founded about the year 75, and maintained its connection with the fortress for nearly three hundred years, though it seems to have sent detachments to help in wars on the Continent and to take part in build- ing Hadrian's Wall (120 A.D.) and the Antonine Wall (143 A.D.). In the year 350 the legion appears to have moved to Richborough in Kent to guard the Saxon shore against attack. The author describes the organisation of a Roman legion with its cohorts, maniples, and centuries, its officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. He then gives a brief outline of the conquest of Wales and the system adopted by the invaders to hold it down. A folding map at the end shows the Roman settlements and roads of Wales.