BOOKS AND WRITERS 



A new bi-monthly journal devoted to recording data bearing 

 on heredity, has begun publication at Princeton, N. J. It bears 

 the title of Genetics and costs $1.00 a number. Judging from 

 the first issue the contents are likely to prove too technical for 

 any but the advanced student though doubtless exceedingly 

 valuable for reference in all that pertains to its field. 



After one has seen a student of the mosses peering 

 through a compound microscope at some all-but-invisible peri- 

 stome or leaf-cell, he is likely to get the idea that the study of 

 mosses cannot be successfully carried on without the aid of the 

 optician, but such is not exactly the case. In genera containing 

 numerous species that closely resemble one another, a resort to 

 the microscope may be imperative, but it is quite possible to 

 recognize many species without even a simple lens. The re- 

 viewer, many years ago, took to collecting mosses, but lacking 

 the patience and the books to properly name them, was kindly 

 helped out of the difficulty by a friend in Concord, New Hamp- 

 shire. After a specimen was once named, however, he found 

 very little difficulty in recognizing it again when encountered. 

 The mosses have so many peculiarities of growth, habitat, 

 color, and structure as to fairly warrant the claim of "How to 

 Know the Mosses", by Elizabeth M'arie Dunham, that it will 

 enable the beginner to name his plants without a lens. The 

 book consists of descriptions of about 80 genera and 150 species 

 of the common mosses in the North-eastern States with illustra- 

 tions of most of the species described. Two complete keys, 

 based on the leaves and capsules respectively, are given, and 

 several explanatory chapters make clear the few technical mat- 

 ters mentioned in the book. Naming the mosses by the use of 

 this book should be both fascinating and easy. As in other 

 studies, the first few species will be the hardest to name, but 



