112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



bons of cells which are very similar to the plant bodies of 

 various fungi. The yeasts, however, are now known to be 

 entirely distinct organisms. Books devoted to the yeasts do 

 not appear to be very numerous. One of the most important 

 is a work in French by Alexandre Guilliermond which has 

 recently been translated into English by Dr. Fred W. Tanner 

 of the University of Illinois, who has added much original 

 matter in order to bring the treatment of the subject up to 

 date. The first i)art of the book is given over to a discussion 

 of the morphology and physiology of the yeasts with a des- 

 cription of methods for cultivating and identifying the various 

 forms, but a much larger part is devoted to a description of all 

 the species with notes on their occurrence, and other pertinent 

 matters. There are more than 150 line drawings and a most 

 comprehensive Ijibliography, the latter covering thirty pages. 

 Now that the use of yeast in medicine is increasing the book 

 I)i(l>- fair to become one of the "best .sellers." In any event, 

 if one seeks information about the yeasts, this is the place to 

 ]o(.k for it. The book is for sale by John Wiley & Sons, New 

 ^'ork at $6.00 



l\ffie Young Slusser, Mary Belle Williams and Kmma 

 l')urbank Beeson have collaborated under the direction of 

 Lillian McLean Waldo, in a httle book entitled "Stories of 

 Luther Burbank and his Plant School." This is intended as 

 a bo<ik for i1r- use of nalure-^ludx- classes in the grades. l)ut 

 certain parts, at least, are scarcely suitable for this jjurpose. 

 It does not seem to be good pedagogy to teach even by ini- 

 jjlication that plants converse among tliemselves or that ihey 

 are endowed with a multitude of human attributes. In an in- 

 troductory note, Luther Burbank states that the authors have 

 confined hemselves strictly to facts, but we feel disposed to 

 fjuestion many of them. In the reviewer's part of the world, 

 at least, tulijts arc not planted in the spring, tlie flower spike 



