98 
This nomenclature consisted in using a specially descriptive term and 
prefixing it to the general name of the plant, as we might say a red 
rose, a climbing hop-vine, a trailing honeysuckle, elc. In this manner 
the Indians collected a large body of identifying names for plants, 
and the inference seems warranted that to this extent they possessed 
a nomenclature which was directly related to a useful if not alto- 
gether natural system of classification, the whole based upon striking 
features or useful properties of the plants they described. 
In the names of plants the most interesting modifications are in- 
stanced, by some of which plants inhabiting moist places were indi- 
cated, those flowering at certain times, plants growing on the margins 
of streams, those commencing to flower with the first waters of the 
wet season, and declining with its increase, were all variously charac- 
terized. The soil in which plants grew and their habitat were also 
denoted by prefixes. The various parts of a plant were carefully 
distinguished, as the root, the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the 
flower, the fruit. These terms were again modified by specific 
designations when the parts assumed peculiar shapes or possessed 
peculiar properties. 
The features of the trunk and branches and the disposition of the 
latter, and the habit of the growing"plant found mention in the terms 
and names employed by these pre-Columbian botanists. 
The enthusiasm of the author may lead him to overestimate the 
actual progress made by the Aztecs in this science, but every one 
who reads his elaborate essay must feel a curious shock of surprise at 
finding that so much can be probably claimed for them. 
L. P. Gratacap. 
Contributions towards a List of the State and Local Floras of 
the United States. 
The Pacific Coast. California. 
Descriptions of Plants collected by Mr. William Gamble in the Rocky 
Mountains of Upper California. By Thos. Nuttall. (D.) 
InProc. Phila. Acad. Sci., Vol. iv. 1848. 
Botanical Report on Routes in California, to connect with the Routes 
near the 35th and 32nd Parallels, explored by Lieut. R. S. Wil- 
liamson, in 1853. By E. Durand and S. C. Hilgard. M.D. (C.) 
In Rep. on Exp. and Surveys from Miss. River to Pacific Ocean, 
Vol. v., Part iii., Washington 1856 (33d Congress, 2nd Sess., Ex. 
Doc. No. 91.) 
Descriptions of Plants collected along the Route, by W. P. Blake, and 
at Mouth of the Gila, by John Torrey. (C) 
In Rep. on Exp. and Surveys from Miss. River to Pacific Ocean, 
Vol. v., part ii., 359-370. 
Botanical Report on Routes in California and Oregon, explored by 
Lieut. R. S. Williamson, and Lieut. Henry L. Abbot, in i855- 
By J. S. Newberry. (C.) 
(Comprises: Chapter i., Geographical Botany; Chapter ii., Descrip- 
tion of the Forest Trees of Aorthern California and Oregon.) 
In Expl. and Surveys from Miss. River to Pacific Ocean, Vol. iv-, 
part iii., pp. i-64. 
