12 
and naturalized species reputed to be of value in the practice of 
medicine have been discussed and described. The book here noticed 
thus supplies a want which every intelligent practitioner and student 
must have felt, and presents in condensed form the results of the 
author's studies for a number of years in this neglected field. Com- 
mencing under the heading " Elements of Botany," it presents clearly 
and concisely the life-history of flowering-plants, explains the names 
given to their parts, and the principles of botanical classification, 
with a glossary of botanical terms. Succeeding this, and forming 
the larger portion of the work is a critical account of nearly all the 
American plants which are, or have been, employed in medicine, 
statements of their geographical distribution and habitat, the parts 
used in the various pharmaceutical preparations, with the chemical 
constituents of the same, and their medical properties and uses. It 
is noteworthy that comparatively few of the species which have been 
used in medicine are really proved of sufficient importance to be 
recognized as valuable therapeutical agents. The number condemned 
or questioned is far greater than that admitted to be useful The 
plants are considered in the order of their arrangement in Dr. Gray's 
Manual of Botany. The book is well printed, carefully indexed, and 
beautifully illustrated with i6o wood-cuts, and with superb chromo- 
hthographic plates of Podophyllum peltatum, L., Liriodmdron TttUpi- 
fera, L., Sanguinaria Canade/isis, L., Geranium maculahun, L., Conius 
Jtonda, L., Viburnum J>runi/olium, L., Gelsemium sempervirens, Ait., 
Cypripedium pubescens, Willd., and Aspidium marqinale, Swartz, from 
original drawings by the author.— N. L. B. 
ora arid Fauna of 
Woodward 
m 
Sci. Amer. Supplem., ,Dec. 27, 1884. 
This interesting paper concisely presents the results of the past 
year s study by Messrs. Gratacap and Woodward of the life existing 
in the larger iresh-water lakes. In the investigation of the flora they 
appear to have confined themselves to the Alg£e, no phanerogams being 
given in the list of species detected. This includes 22 of Confer- 
voidecB,^ 7 of Desmids, 26 of Diatoms and 3 Bacteria. The paper is 
preliminary to a more exhaustive report. It contains a valuable con- 
tribution to the bibliograpy of fresh-water florae and faunae of the 
United States, mostly microscopical.-- N. L. B. 
List of, and Notes upon, the Lichens collected by Dr. T. Bean in Alaska 
and the adjacent region in 1880. By Dr. J. T. Rothrock.. 8vo., 
pamph., pp. 10. (From Proceed. U. S. Nat. Museum. Vol. in, 
No. I.) 
Preliminary List of the Parasitic Fungi of Wisconsin. By Williani 
Trelease. 8vo., pamph., pp. 40. (From the Transactions of 
the Wisconsin Acad. Science.) 
Notes on some Species of Gymnosporangium and Chrysotnyxa of the 
United States. By W. G. Farlow. Svo., pamph., pp. 16. (Froi" 
Proceedings of Amer. Acad. Arts and Sciences.) 
Notes on a Fungus parasitic on Species of Poiamogeton. By W. Cj- 
Farlow. (From Transactions of the Ottawa Field- Naturalists 
Club.) 
