NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 153 



There are many thoughtful people in the state of California, 

 and, indeed, throughout the Pacific states, who at this time are 

 desirous of intelligent information about the forests and about 

 forestry, and of the sort that is not too technical to be, to them, 

 intelligible. Very opportune, therefore, is a little volume of eighty- 

 eight pages, entitled, "A Primer of Forestry, Part I," which has 

 just been published by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. Its author is Mr. Gilford Pinchot, chief of the Division 

 of Forestry of the Department. His style is popular but lucid, 

 and the "Primer" will answer those questions which are most 

 generally asked about the meaning of forestry and its aims. 

 Chapter I is concerned with the individual tree, its parts, food, and 

 growth. Chapter II discusses trees in the forest ; Chapter III, the 

 life of a forest ; and Chapter IV, the enemies of a forest. The book 

 is, as a book for popular instruction on this subject should be, 

 copiously illustrated. 



Bulletin 64 of the South Dakota Agricultural College is a 

 catalogue of the ferns and flowering plants of South Dakota, by 

 D. A. Saunders. The list is chiefly distinguished for its peculiar 

 nomenclature, which is unvexed by adherence to any generally 

 accepted system of orthography. There are many curious combi- 

 nations and adjectival, geographical, and personal names are 

 indifferently capitalized or decapitalized. " Apois apois " is a 

 novelty, and so is also "Silena antirrhina," and "Silena Noctiflora." 

 Capitalization is denied the specific part of " Anemone virginiana," 

 but the specific part of "Anemone Canadensis" stands resplendent 

 with a capital C. On adjoining pages we find "Eragrostis purshii" 

 and "Poa Buckleyana," while "Potentilla Hippiana" rejoices in 

 closest proximity to "Potentilla hippiana diffusa." As between 

 "Panicum Capillare," "Ixophorous Virdis," "Muhlenbergia Syl- 

 vatica," "Avena Striata," "Pyrolla Elliptica," " Onosmodium 

 Molle," "Malva Sylvestris," etc., on the one hand, and " Thalic- 

 trum diocium," " Roripa siniata," " Steironema ciliaum," and 

 many others on the other hand, the honors seem to be evenly 

 divided. There is a rather elaborate erratum, but examination 

 shows that there is need of an erratum to the erratum. The list 

 was published at Brookings, S. D. We trust that Professor 

 Saunders can prove an alibi. 



