CURRENT LITERATURE 



BOOK REVIEWS 

 Life and letters of Hooker 



No botanist needs an introduction to Sir Joseph Hooker, so far as his 

 botanical activities are concerned, but to come into personal touch through his 

 letters to his intimate friends is an unusual opportunity. Leonard Huxley,' 

 the son of Hooker's close friend, has provided this opportunity by editing 

 materials collected and arranged by Lady Hooker. Hooker's long Hfe, of 

 nearly a century, spanned the revolution in biology, and his intimate relation 

 with D.ARWiN and his work makes many of his letters a description of the 

 theory of natural selection in the making. 



Especially interesting to American botanists are his letters in reference 

 to his visit to the United States in 1877, during which his long-time friend 

 Asa Gray conducted him across the continent. Hooker's impressions of the 

 United States and of its flora make most interesting reading. 



No brief review can do justice to the wealth of material in such a collection 

 of letters. Hooker was fond of writing letters to his intimates, and as a 

 result these volumes seem to make one acquainted with the man. When to 

 the high qualities of the man there is added the importance of the times in 

 which he lived and worked the interest is multipHed. — J. M. C. 



MINOR NOTICES 



North American flora. — The first part of volume 24 includes most of the 

 genera of the tribe Psoraleae (Fabaceae) by Rydberg, the genus Eysenhardlia 

 being monographed by Pennell. The tribe, as presented, includes 19 genera, 

 7 of which are described as new. Hoita (11 spp., 4 new), Rhytidomene (i sp.), 

 Psoralidium (14 spp., i new), and Pediomelum (22 spp., 7 new) are segregated 

 from Psoralea, which is left with a single species {P. fruticans). The revival 

 of Orbexilum Raf. also accounts for 8 other species of Psoralea. Psorobatus 

 (2 spp.), Psorodendron (12 spp., 2 new), and Psorothamnus (8 spp., 4 new) are 

 segregates of Dalea. Amorpha seems to retain its identity, with 23 spp., 5 of 

 which are new. Eysenhardtia is doubled in representation, 7 of the 14 species 

 being new. The contribution is a complete upsetting of the former presenta- 

 tions of Psoraleae. — J. M. C. 



' Huxley, Leonard, Life and letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. 2 vols. 

 8vo. pp. 546 and 569. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1918. 



