ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 671 



results of his own investigations. He records 161 monocotyledons and 

 dicotyledons, 1 gymnosperm (Araucaria excelsa, the Norfolk Island pine), 

 52 ferns, 3 lycopodinse, 18 mosses and hepaticse, 23 lichens, 13 fungi, 

 and 10 algae (an incomplete list). He also gives a list of introduced 

 plants, economic and otherwise, and makes suggestions as to the ex- 

 termination of weeds, and other points of agricultural interest. At the 

 close of his paper extracts are given from accounts by Captains Cook 

 and King on the primaeval vegetation of the island ; and also a biblio- 

 graphy of works and papers dealing with its vegetation, and an account 

 of the relation between Ferdinand Bauer and the island. 



Icelandic Fodder Plants.* — St. Stefansen and W. (x. Soderbauin 

 give the results of their analysis of the fodder plants of Iceland. Of the 

 360 flowering plants known in the island, 25 per cent, are grasses or 

 sedges. Analyses are given of 25 of the most important plants, collected 

 in July or early in August. As regards the grasses, the results show 

 higher percentages of ash and nitrogenous matter and lower percentages 

 of cellulose than the corresponding Swedish plants, and the digestibility 

 of the nitrogenous matter is also relatively higher. Except for a 

 greater digestibility of the nitrogenous matter, the composition of the 

 sedges did not differ essentially from those analysed in Sweden. 



Philippine Rubber Plants.f — The last report of the Superintendent 

 of the Government Laboratories in the Philippine Islands contains an 

 exhaustive report of the Secretary of the Interior on the sources of 

 gutta-percha and rubber in the Islands. The most important rubber- 

 producing trees are several species of Palaquiurn and Pay en a Leerii, 

 members of the order Sapotaceae. Photographic reproductions of leafy 

 and in some cases flower-bearing shoots are given, as well as plates 

 indicating the various methods of tapping, and maps illustrating the 

 known geographical distribution of rubber plants in the Philippines. 

 Notes are also given on the chemical properties of the latter, the culti- 

 vation of the plants, etc., with suggestions as to the value of the islands 

 from a rubber-producing point of view. 



Timbers of Commerce and their Identification.^ — In this book 

 Herbert Stone gives a description of the wood of nearly two hundred and 

 fifty species, comprising all those met with upon the British market, and 

 those which he has received from the Colonies as being useful and 

 abundant, and also a few which, though at present unknown in the 

 market, commend themselves to the writer as timbers of good quality, 

 which are likely to be heard of in the future. The special portion of 

 the book is preceded by an introduction, in which the author gives a 

 general account of the growth of a tree, and the formation and structure 

 of the w T ood. This is followed by some practical hints to those wishing 



* Medd. k. Laudtbruks. Akad. Exper., No. 77, Stockholm, 1903. See also 

 Journ. Chem. Soc, lxxxvi. (1904) II., pp. 509-10. 



t Report of the Superintendent of Government Laboratories in the Philippine 

 Islands for the year ending September 1, 1903. (From fourth annual report of the 

 Philippine Commission.) Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, pp. 394-411, 

 ■with numerous plates. 



J The Timbers of Commerce and their Identification. By Herbert Stone. 8vo, 

 xxxviii. and 311 pp., 18G pis. Rider, London, 1904. 



