LITERARY NOTICES, 



707 



this development takes place. The first is 

 the extinction of trunk lines of descent, by 

 virtue of which a trunk sends up a branch 

 which is capable of higher progress than the 

 trunk itself, and in time comes to be regard- 

 ed as the trunk. This in turn sends up a 

 branch by which it is overtopped and super- 

 seded as the trunk of the ever-branching sys- 

 tem. Another law is that of persistence of 

 unspecialized types, instances of which are 

 the persistence of low forms of articulates, 

 mollusks, and reptiles with the dominant 

 types of animals, while the higher forms of 

 these orders have been extinguished by com- 

 petition with these dominant types. Turn- 

 ing to the vegetable kingdom, Mr. Ward 

 points out by what steps development has 

 proceeded in this field from its earliest be- 

 ginnings in cryptogamic life to its highest 

 and latest expression in the gamopetalous 

 dicotyledon. He then considers the influ- 

 ence in' the modification of structure exerted 

 by extra-normal causes — i. e., such as produce 

 characters that are of only indirect use to 

 the organism. The doctrine of natural se- 

 lection has been severely criticised of late 

 years, and the best way of defending it, Mr. 

 Ward believes, is to take the ground that 

 fortuitous variation goes on at all times, in 

 many directions, and to great lengths, with- 

 out any perceptible change in the degree of 

 adaptation which the varying forms have to 

 their environment. No beneficial effect need 

 be felt until well-formed varieties have been 

 developed. Among extra-normal influences 

 in the vegetable kingdom are showy and 

 fragrant flowers, and bright-colored and 

 pleasant-flavored fruits. Another important 

 influence of this class comprises the causes 

 which in many cases make one sex differ so 

 widely from the other. 



An address was given by Dr. Byron D. 

 Halsted, State Botanist of New Jersey, be- 

 fore the New Jersey Board of Agriculture 

 last winter on the subject of Rusts, Smuts, 

 Ergots, and Rots, in which he described some 

 of the diseases that seriously affect field- 

 crops, vegetables, and fruit, and named rem- 

 edies that have proved successful in com- 

 bating them. The paper comes to us in 

 pamphlet form. It is free from botanical 

 technicalities, and hence can be understood 

 and used by any intelligent farmer. A list 

 of the fungi most injurious to New Jersey 



farm-crops is appended, together with four 

 plates in which many of them are figured. 



,Part VII of Volume I of the Records 

 of the American Society of Naturalists con- 

 tains a list of members, with their profes- 

 sional positions and addresses, and a record 

 of the eighth meeting of the society, held in 

 New York, December 27 and 28, 1889. The 

 president, Prof. Goodale, of Harvard, took 

 Science in the Schools as the subject of his 

 address, and suggested as a means of se- 

 curing genuine science study in the lower 

 schools the preparation of a book on phys- 

 ical geography, the part relating to each 

 tributary science to be made by a master of 

 the science, and the whole to be co-ordinated 

 by a master in pedagogics. An outline of lab- 

 oratory work in each of the sciences should 

 be included, some one of which should be se- 

 lected by the teacher for his pupils to become 

 practically acquainted with. Since the last 

 meeting of the society, the addition of sci- 

 ence to the requirements for admission to 

 college, and to the general course of study 

 in common schools, has been urged in the 

 name of the society by Prof. William N. Rice 

 and other members before various educa- 

 tional associations. The officers elected for 

 the present year include Prof. H. Newell 

 Martin, president, and Prof. Henry H. Don- 

 aldson, of Clark University, secretary. 



A detailed examination of The Marine 

 Climate of the Southern California Coast 

 and its Relations to Phthisis has been pub- 

 lished in a pamphlet by P. C. Rcmondino, 

 M. D., of San Diego. In passing from the 

 islands off the coast to the mountains and 

 down into the desert beyond, the author dis- 

 tinguishes six varieties of climate that are 

 met with. Three of these have more or less 

 of a marine character, while the others are 

 land climates, but none of them can be called 

 moist. Dr. Remondino tells what are the 

 prevailing temperatures, quantities of air- 

 moisture, character of the seasons, weather, 

 etc., in different parts of the region he de- 

 scribes, and bears confident testimony as to 

 the benefits that consumptive patients may 

 expect from the dry and equable air of the 

 coast, or the foot-hills, or the mountains of 

 southern California. 



Bulletin No. 22 of the Department of 

 Agriculture consists of Reports of Observa- 

 tions and Experiments in the Practical Work 



