Boors AND Current Literature. 275 



which comes of a truer idea of nature. The reviewer would have 

 liked to find a stronger statement in the book, to see among his 

 colleagues a greater realization of the intimate relations of our 

 science to life, a demonstration in class-rpom, print, and practice 

 of its usefulness when it is properly conceived and sympatheti- 

 cally taught. But since one result of reading, the book is a share 

 of Ganong's enthusiasm, perhaps reflection upon it will lead to 

 the perception of the importance of our subject, of its usefulness 

 to our fellow men. 



Stanford University. ... 



\ 



BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Vegetationsbilder of Karsten and Schenk (Fischer, 

 Jena) has been brought. to the seventh and eighth series whi,ch 

 include the following parts, each with plates and descriptive 

 text: > 



Vn. — 1 and 2. The occupation of volcanic soil in Java and 

 Sumatra. 



3. The Northern Black Forest. 



4. Pictures of vegetation in Dalmatia. 



5. Character plants of the Abysinian highlands. 

 6 and 7. Plant formations of eastern Bolivia. 



8. Pictures of vegetation in Danish West Greenland. 

 V^in. — 1. Arid steppes of the KaUhari Desert. 



2. Pictures of vegetation in the Juan Fernandez Islands. 



Chiti, in the new Journal of Italian Botany, treats of the 

 seasonal dimorphism of Galium palustre which he regards as a 

 collective species that in Europe niay be separated into three 

 elements of which G. palustre and G. elongqtum are to be con- 

 sidered as seasonally dimorphic, the latter appearing in areas of 

 common distribution about two weeks later than the former. 

 Their geographical distribution leads to the conclusion that their 

 origin is connected not merely wMth the season, but with the cli- 

 mate. In cultures coi?tinued for two years the characters of G 

 elonqatum rerr.ained constant. In nature, however, the occurence 

 of intermediate forms, not hybrids, suggests that heredity is not 

 absolute in this plant, but is limited to certain groups of species. 



