214 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



An invitation couched in graceful terms and written in the 

 French language has been extended by the Imperial Society of Horti- 

 culture of St. Petersburg to all botanists, to attend an international 

 Congress of Botanists and Horticulturists in that city upon the 5th 

 (17th) of May. We learn from the circular that the official language of 

 the congress will be French, but any one is free to express himself in 

 his national tongue. The papers will 1>3 limited to 30 minutes. The 

 distinguished committee who issue the call offer to facilitate the journey 

 of every botanist by advice; and to make his stay in the capital agreea- 

 ble. It is to be hoped that the United States will be represented. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Hie Bacteria. By T. J. Burrill, Ph. D. From the eleventh report of 

 the Illinois Industrial University. 8 vo. 65 pp., Springfield, 1882. 

 —No subject connected with botany now commands more general inter- 

 est, while requiring the highest technical knowledge and skill, than that 

 of the bacteria. The present brochure of sixty-five closely packed pages 

 is a timely contribution. It is specially to be commended as an enter- 

 taining and concise resume of the subject, both for the general reader only 

 interested to know what bacteria are and how they affect domestic and 

 commercial matters, and for the specialist who wishes the latest infor- 

 mation. Dr. Sternberg's translation of Magnin's work is the only oth- 

 er treatise of the kind in the English language. The low price at which 

 the present equally valuable work is issued (150 cts.) ought to ensure a 

 wide perusal. The more serviceable part for the possessor of a good 

 microscope is the systematic portion, tilling half the pamphlet. This 

 consists of keys to the genera, and descriptions of genera and species, 

 with notes and synonomy. It is largely a conscientious translation of" 

 that part of the first number of Winter's edition of Rabenhorst's Krt/pto- 

 gainm-Flora von Dautschland, Oederreich, urid der ticluveiz pertaining 

 to bacteria (Scfrizomi/cetes) and to the closely related yeast plants 

 (Sacc7iaromycetes). This brings the most valuable classification with 

 descriptions yet published within the reach of those unfamiliar with the 

 German language. The author interpolates in brackets quite a number of 

 doubtful or unsettled species mostly by Hallier, descriptions of three 

 new specie?, and names for the species causing hog cholera and chicken 

 cholera. 



The Colors- of Flowers, as Illustrated by the British Flora; by Gran* 

 Allen. (Nature Series, Macmillan &, Co., London.) — 



This little book deserves well its place in the popular "Nature Series" 

 for it presents a theory in explanation of the coloring of flowers, which 

 seems at first reading extremely plausible a priori and apparently so 

 well borne out by the facts that one is almost tempted to accept it without- 

 examining closely the foundations on which it rests or the facts to 

 which it appeals for support. The author's first task is to prove that, 

 contrary to the commonly accepted doctrine of morphology, "petals are 

 in all probability enlarged and flattened stamens, which have been set 

 apart for the special work of attracting insects." As a corollary of this 

 proposition it is stated that "as the stamens of almost all flowers * * * 

 are vellow, it would seem naturally to follow that the earliest petals 

 would be yellow too." and as "the earliest and simplest types of existing 

 dowers are almost always yellow, seldom white and never blue, this in 

 itself would be sufficient ground for believing that yellow was the orig- 



