72 
Club and of the Academy, and to assist them in becoming acquainted 
with other botanists. 
Excursions in addition to those of the general Association have 
been arranged to the pine barrens and to the Bartram gardens, and 
others will be added. Upon Monday evening, September 8th, the 
Botanical Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences will give a 
reception to the Club at the rooms of the Academy. The hours for 
meeting of the Club will be annouced daily during the session. — J. 
C. Arthur, Chairman of Committee. 
Botanical Literature- 
A Manual of the Mosses of North Afuerica, By Leo Lesquereux and 
Thomas P. James. With Six Plates illustrating the Genera, 
8vo, pp. 447, Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. 1884. 
In this volume we have a manual which will be greeted by all 
botanists as a valuable addition to the literature of the subject, sup- 
plying a need that has long been felt. To the arduous and protracted 
labors of the authors, with the assistance of other eminent bryologists, 
both in this country and abroad, the students of this delightful 
branch are indebted for a most satisfactory guide. It contains 447 
pages, with descriptions of nearly goo species, includes a good glos- 
sary and is illustrated with six plates. The type is clear, and the 
descriptions are full and amended from the most recent investigations 
corrections and additions having been made just before going to 
press. We notice with pleasure copious descriptions of the orders 
and tribes, with bibliographical references and systematic tables. 
The classification is that used in '' Sullivant's Mosses" (Gray's Man- 
ual, 1863), with additions; the class being sub-divided into three 
orders, Sphagnacea^, Andre^eacere and Bryacese; the first two includ- 
ing one genus each, the last, 23 tribes and 126 genera. One over- 
sight has been noticed on page 5 which contradicts the text on page 
95. Eustkhia is given under the sub-division of " Teeth of the per- 
istome 16," and, below, " fruit unknown. 
The Sphagnace?e are briefly described, and references are made 
to monographs for details. It is to be regretted that a whole plate 
was not devoted to them, and some of Braithwaite's excellent ilhis- 
trations of the leaf- and stem-structure given, especially as the other 
plates, with one exception, are those used by Sullivant. 
The Hypneae are given in one genus with 28 sub-genera and i95 
species. , 
As the name implies, Alaska, British America, Greenland and 
the United States are included in the range of the mosses, but 
Mexican species are omitted, which is a disappointment, as they are 
to be found in Ran and Hevey's Catalogue of N. A. Mosses. How- 
ever, as a description of them would have entailed a further delay, 
since the Mexican collections are chiefly to be found m German 
Herbaria, we can excuse this omission and hope to see a demand to 
a Bryologia Americana on the scale of the Bryologia Europrea at no 
distant day,— Elizabeth G. Knight. 
