265 
Decay in the Apple Barrel. B. D. Halsted (Pop. Sci. Month. 
xlili. 76, illustrated). 
Enumeration of the Plants collected by Dr. Thomas Morong in Para- 
guay, 1338-90. By Thomas Morong and N. L. Britton with 
the assistance of Miss Anna Murray Vail. Contributions from 
the Herbarium of Columbia College, No. 35 (Annals New 
York Acad. Sci. vii. 45-280). 
This handsomely printed volume of 235 pages describes that 
portion of the Paraguayan flora which was collected by Dr. Morong 
during a recent visit of two years to that country. In the course 
of that time the region within a hundred miles of Asuncion, and 
the uninhabited portions of the Gran Chaco wilderness, for 400 
miles up the little known Pilcomayo River, was very thoroughly 
searched. The collection, including the Mosses, foots up not 
quite 1000 species, nearly one-tenth of which are new. It repre- 
sents 106 orders, the most numerous being the Composite, Le- 
guminose, Graminee, Cyperacee, Euphorbiacee, Solanacee, 
Malvacee and Filices, which are the most common orders in 
South America. Of the five species of Palms enumerated, two 
are described as new to science; of the thirty-six Euphorbiacee, 
five; of the ten Myrtacez, four; and of the ten Asclepiadacee, 
five, the most remarkable, perhaps, being the last. The new 
species are described by Drs. Britton and Morong, and all the de- 
terminations were made after a careful comparison of the plants 
with the collections at Columbia College and Kew. In this labor 
the authors were assisted by such eminent European botanists as 
J. G. Baker, Edmund Baker, A. Cogniaux, N. E. Brown, M. T. 
Masters, A. F ranchet, Casimir De Candolle and R. A. Rolfe, so 
that there js every reason for regarding the identification of the 
Species as correct. A large part of the value of this enumeration 
lies in the notes, which are very full. The peculiarities of nearly 
all the species named in measurement, color, habitat, habit, and 
other interesting particulars concerning their economical uses and 
Surroundings, are taken from the field notes of Dr. Morong, which 
were made while the specimens were fresh, and after many in- 
quir'es made among the natives of the country as to the local » 
names and uses. There is scarcely a species given which might 
- fot at once be identified by any visiting botanist from these notes 
