340 [November 



SOME NEW BOOKS 



The Flora of North America 



Synoptical Flora of North America. Vol. I., Part I., Fascicle II. By Asa Gray,, 

 continued and edited by Benjamin Lincoln Robinson. Imp. 8vo, pp. ix. to xv., 

 207 to 506. New York : American Book Company, June 10, 1897. Price, lis. 



Those of our readers who are interested in North American botany 

 will remember that Dr Gray himself published the portion of this 

 flora dealing with the Gamopetalous orders of Dicotyledons. The 

 \wo parts which appeared in 1878 and 188-i were re-issued by the 

 (Smithsonian Institution in 1886. For some time before his death Dr 

 Gray was engaged in monographing the earlier orders of the Poly- 

 petalae, and after his death the work was continued by Dr Sereno 

 Watson and then by Dr Eobinson. The first fascicle of the present 

 part was issued in 1895 and contained an account of the orders 

 beginning with Eanunculaceae and, following the system of Bentham 

 and Hooker's Genera Plantarum, ending with Frankeniaceae. The 

 second fascicle now before us carries the work on as far as Polygalaceae. 

 It has been printed from Dr Gray's manuscript, continued and edited 

 by Dr Eobinson, with the collaboration of Professors Trelease, Coulter 

 and Bailey. A third fascicle to include the Leguminosae is in pre- 

 paration. The work forms a concise but complete and carefully 

 elaborated account of the flowering plants of North America (north of 

 Mexico). The descriptions, which are sufficiently full and clear, are 

 in English ; the synonymy and bibliography of genera and species are 

 included, and the geographical range of species and varieties is indi- 

 cated. Identification of the plants is facilitated by the introduction 

 of generic and specific keys. We congratulate Dr Eobinson and his 

 colleagues on the portion already done and wish them a speedy and 

 successful termination of the Flora. 



Mollusca 



Traitf, de Zoologie publie" sous la direction de Raphael Blanchard. Fasc. 

 xvi., Mollusques. Par P. Pelseneer. Pp. 187, tigs. 8vo. Paris: Ruetf et Cie., 

 1897. • 



This, which we understand is one of the first fascicules published of 

 what promises to be a most important and valuable work, contains, in 

 addition to the subject announced on the title, a two-page appendix on 

 Rhodoye. Otherwise it amounts in fact to a second edition of Pelseneer's 

 " Introduction a l'etude des Mollusques," to which we called attention 

 on its publication {Natural Science, iv., 1894, pp. 387-388). 



It is, however, so much added to and revised, that it almost amounts 

 to a new work. At the same time, we very greatly regret to see that the 

 useful bibliographies formerly given at the end of each section have 

 now been omitted. On the other hand, certain omissions to which we 

 called attention have been supplied. Chlamydoconcha finds a place, 

 and some of the more important fossil families are inserted in the 

 systematic part, which otherwise remains unaltered. A revised phylo- 



