202 Rhodora [October 



common names, the colors, and the flowering season, stand out in 

 heavy-faced type, with the Latin names in italics. The descriptions are 

 brief, and, so far as is consistent with accuracy, are freed from tech- 

 nicalities. With the descriptions are incorporated a variety of notes, 

 among which those on the relations of the plants to insects present a 

 novel and suggestive feature. This matter is emphasized in the 

 introduction, and by two introductory plates that show the commoner 

 butterflies, bees, and flies concerned in the cross-pollination of flowers. 

 A commonly neglected line of observation is thus constantly kept 

 before the student. 



The illustrations of species are the most striking and useful feature 

 of the book. Of these there are over four hundred — a few being 

 colored. The pen and ink studies, as the author calls them, show a 

 charming grace and facility of drawing ; but more than this they most 

 happily present the characteristic look of the living plant. The very 

 droop of the leaves, the turn of the stem, the familiar pose of the 

 plant, are admirably caught and preserved. After studying them 

 one can only regret that every plant mentioned in the text can not 

 have had the same accurate, sympathetic interpretation. But in a 

 field book, or pocket manual, space is limited. We find, therefore, 

 that many plants are omitted altogether. The common, the conspic- 

 uous species, that may be met from Maine to Virginia are there — 

 that is to say, the common flowers. Trees, shrubs, except a few, and 

 also grasses and sedges are missing — and obviously there is no 

 room for them. By its title, the book excludes them. 



A captious reviewer, with dogmatic convictions on matters of 

 botanical controversy, or a stickler for scientific form and precision 

 might be inclined to be severe with certain things about this book — 

 for it is a popular book. For such a critic, however, the book is not 

 intended. Others will find in it the help they seek, and something 

 more. 



A New Local Flora. — Messrs. Charles Humphrey Bissell and 

 Luman Andrews have just issued a Flora of the Town of Southing- 

 ton, Connecticut and its Vicinity. 1 The work, which is an excel- 

 lently printed octavo pamphlet of more than a hundred pages, is 



1 Connecticut School Document No. 15, published by the State Board of Edu- 

 cation, 1902. 



