THE PLANT WOKLD 191 



dium of current literature, but practically, as carried out in this volume, 

 it is disappointing in a number of particulars. Thus, in spite of the 

 extreme classification of subjects, there is no entry for fossil plants. 

 Papers on this subject are relegated to the volume as paleontology, 

 although they are scattered under various obscure topics in this vol- 

 ume. This makes it necessary to look in two volumes to cover this sub- 

 ject. It is necessary to read to the bottom of page vii to ascertain the 

 fact that this volume is intended to cover the year 1901. This informa- 

 tion should have been given on the title page. On page xiv it is stated 

 that, owang to difficulty in securing copy, this volume is incomplete, and 

 is to be followed in a few months by another. The natural inference 

 would be that this covers either a part of the alphabet or a definite part 

 of the j^ear. Neither assumption is correct, and it is impossible to 

 detect any rational plan which governed the selection of the references 

 in this volume. American sources seem to have been sadly slighted, 

 and even when drawn upon the references "appear to be quite at ran- 

 dom. Thus but two references are taken from this journal, one an 

 obscure note in number five, and the other from number seven. Other 

 Journals are treated in the same manner, apparently not one being com- 

 pletely indexed. It would seem that after ha\dng waited for upwards 

 of fifty years for this volume, a further delay of a few months could 

 have been endured if by thus doing it could have been made complete 

 for some portion of the period or field, especially if each volume is to 

 cost twenty-one shillings. So far as I am able to learn no American 

 botanist reviewed these references, and as a result a number of avoid- 

 able errors occur. There are also a number of apparent inconsistencies 

 in the use of type. 



While this index of botanical literature, when properly system- 

 atized, should prove a boon to working botanists, this volume, taken as 

 a sample, is distinctly disappointing in many particulars. 



F. H. Knowlton. 



PosTELSiA : The Yearbook of the Minnesota Seaside Station. 1901. 

 St. Paul, Minnesota. Privately published. 



Under this quaint title, which is the technical name of a seaweed 

 of the Pacific, are grouped together seven essays, by six different 

 authors, the list being as follows : " Uses of Marine Algae in Japan," 

 K. Yendo ; " Eemarks on the Distribution of Plants in Colorado, East 

 of the Divide," Francis Kamaley, "The Phylogary of the Cotyledon," 

 Harold L. Lyon; "Botanizing in Jamaica," Eloise Butler; "AlgEe Col- 

 lecting in the Hawaiian Islands," Josephine E. Tilden; "The Distribu- 

 tion of Marine Algse in Japan," K. Yendo ; "The Kelps of San Juan de 

 Fuca," Conway MacMillan. 



