THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 125 



would puzzle anybody to italicise properly. Although there 

 has been a considerable increase in the number of species in- 

 cluded, and the number of pages has also been increased, the 

 new book actually weighs less than the old one, due to the use 

 of thinner paper. The price has been increased to $2.50, but 

 in our opinion the book is worth it. 



* * * 



The daughter of the late Mrs. James McManes has given 

 to Torreya the sum of two hundred dollars to be used for il- 

 lustrations for that magazine as a memorial to her mother. 

 No more practical way of advancing popular botany could be 

 devised and Torreya is to be congratulated upon its good 

 fortune. We have always been of the opinion that a magazine 

 needing a subsidy to exist has little excuse for being, but given 



a magazine that can exist without aid, there seems to be no 

 reason why some well-disposed person of means should not 



adopt the method mentioned above to advance some phase of 



science in which he may happen to be interested. It will be 



a great day for science if our millionaires ever exchange their 



present fads for botany, entomology, ornithology and the like. 



The editor of this magazine can imagine what fun he would 



have in making a real botanical journal if backed by about a 



million dollars to be spent in improvements. 



The new "Gray's Manual" represents a rather conserva- 

 tive treatment of our flora brought up to date. It can hardly 

 claim to be without errors, and anyone who discovers an inac- 

 curacy will do a favor to science by pointing it out. Similarly, 

 if one now finds a plant that is not accurately described in the 

 new work, he is warranted in assuming that he has a species or 

 variety new to our region. Botanizing will now have an added 

 zest. If your new finds do not absolutely correspond to 

 the descriptions it is time to find out why. It is not to be 



