BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 343 



Hope, but not yet reported in North America. A very full account of its 

 spread through Europe to 1879, accompanied by a map and bibliography of the 

 invasion, was given by Egon Ihne in the 18th report of the Upper Hessian 

 Gessellschaft fiir Natur-und Heilkunde. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



To the fringed Gentian, by W. C. Bryant. Illuminated, 8vo. Cassino & Co-, 

 Boston, 1883. 



This beautiful befringed brochure of a half dozen leaves of heavy card, 

 shows the excellent treatment that has attracted favorable attention to the sev- 

 eral large illustrated works on popular natural history issued by this firm. The 

 drawing and coloring of the delicate flower, which is the motif to author and 

 artist, together with the decorative setting, is good, although so much can not 

 be said of the head of Bryant which is three times introduced. 



Flore de la Suisse et sesorigines, par le Dr. H. Christ. 



The above work is a volume of 571 octavo pages, sumptuously gotten up, 

 and illustrated by colored maps and full page illustrations. It is in no sense a 

 manual or flora, but a learned and philosophical treatise, most entertaining 

 withal, upon the phyto-geography of Switzerland, and the origin of its plants. 

 It is a wonderful record of patient and careful work, and to the tourist who 

 thinks as well as sees, must be of the greatest value. We hope that many copies 

 may reach this country, where they can not fail to be appreciated. 



Flora Peoriana: die Vegetation im Ctima von Mittel-Ittinois, von Friedrich 

 Brendel. From " Termeszetrajzi Fiizetek," Vol. V. Boy. 8vo. 107 pp. Budapest, 

 1882. 



This is a painstaking and comprehensive account of the flora of Peoria, 

 111., written in the German language. The first fifty pages are devoted to topo- 

 graphy, climate and general remarks on the vegetation, some idea of the many- 

 sided treatment of which may be gained by naming the headings printed in 

 larger type, as follows : Topography, formation of the soil, result of twenty- 

 years observation on the temperature, barometric observations, moisture and 

 precipitation, clouds and sunshine, wind, wind and temperature, wind and 

 clouds, vegetation, the prairies, water, swamp and moist localities, plants of 

 cultivated land, pasture, waste land and roadside, introduced plants, cultivated 

 plants, systematic review of the plants about Peoria and in the State of Illinois. 

 This surely furnishes a deal of data for estimating the value of the various fac- 

 tors which have reacted to determine the presence of the plants of the district. 

 Then comes the catalogue proper, covering forty pages, while the rest of the 

 work is devoted to comparative statistics, and the geographical distribution of 

 the genera and species. The name of each plant in the list is followed by (1) a 

 sign showing if annual, biennial or perennial, (2) the habitat, (3) the abund- 

 ance or rarity of the species, indicated on a scale of ten by Bonian numerals, 

 (4) the relative number of individuals in the proper habitat, indicated on a 

 scale of ten by Arabic numerals, and (5) limits of the distribution in North 

 America; and all this with few exceptions in a single line. At the end of each 

 order is a list of additional plants of the immediate region round about, and of 

 those occurring still further away toward the several points of the compass. 

 The catalogue enumerates 809 species of indigenous vascular plants, and in 

 addition thereto 68 mosses and 19 liverworts with the habitat of each, and a 

 simple list of 36 lichens, 39 fungi, and about 10 alga;. Occasional lapses in 

 proof reading occur, but the general typographical appearance is good. The 

 thoroughness and attention to details merit emulation, although it may rarely 

 he advisable to use so much space for meteorological matters. 



