VOL. I.] Recent Literature. I9I 
as soon as the name is discovered.’’ The illustrations are a welcome 
change from the hackneyed stock in trade, nearly all of them hav- 
ing been drawn by the author.’ The book contains. brief chapters 
on histological methods and on the fertilization of flowers, and al- 
though it presupposes a knowledge of forms, and differs radically in 
classification from all our Floras, it will be found a very valuable 
addition to our list of botanical text-books. H. H. B. 
Synopsis of the Genera and Species of Malve, by Epmunp G. 
BAKER, now being published in successive numbers of the Journal 
_ of Botany, is of much interest to American readers. In the case of 
the species of Lavatera, credited to America, however, the differ- 
ences in their floral characters are not so great as stated—the author 
was probably misled, as were the original describers, by the dried 
flowers. 
Cucurbitacearum novum genus et species, by A. COGNIAUX, ex- 
tract from Proc. Cal. Acad., Ser. 2, iii, pp. 58-60. In this paper 
is proposed a new genus, Brandegea, near to Cyclanthera, with two 
_ species B. Bigelovii, which has been referred doubtfully to several 
genera, and B. monosperma (described originally as Cyclanthera 
monosperma Brandegee, but subsequently considered by him to be 
only a form of the former species); also Echinocystis Brandegei a 
rather remarkable species making a new section in the genus. 
Catalogue of North American Shells, collected and for sale by 
Flenry Hemphill, San Diego, Cal., 1890. The prefacing note to 
this list furnishes strong evidence of the value of the collection. 
The author’s views are evidently the result of painstaking study 
- and comparison of long series of forms, and in these days when 
collections are too apt to be valued in proportion only to the num- 
ber of “ new species’ they contain, show a disinterestedness, and 
a soundness of judgment worthy of imitation. The author says: 
“The large number of varieties offered adds very much to the 
value of the series, but it must be understood that some of them do 
not represent very great differences from the preceding or the fol- 
lowing variety or species, the object being to show their relation to. 
one another by a closely graded series of intermediate forms. * * 
I have reduced many of the so-called species to varieties, and am 
convinced that very many more should be treated in the same man- 
