SHORT ARTICLES. 113 



5. Ovary and styles, enlarged five and one-third times. 



6. One of the upper, empty, bract-like glumes; inner view, show- 

 ing the marginal glands. 



Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6 are enlarged two and two-thirds times. 



The plate is from a pen-and-ink drawing, by Mrs. J. Bnrtt Davy. 



REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. 



Plant Life, considered with special reference to form and function. 

 By Charles Reid Barnes, Professor of Plant Physiology in 

 the University of Chicago. [Henry Holt & Co., 1898.] 



In the January, 1898, number of the Botanical Gazette, Professor 

 Barnes reviewed Curtis' " Text-book of General Botany," and made 

 this initial statement, " The making of a book is now looked upon 

 as almost reprehensible, and the writer is mentally challenged by 

 his fellows to show valid reasons for its publication." After discuss- 

 ing the various phases of the book, the reviewer ends in this wise : 

 " Through these considerations we are led to the conclusion that the 

 book before us is a very convenient compendium of the well-known 

 facts of botany, and a laboratory guide with useful suggestions as to 

 illustrative material. In these things it is no better than its prede- 

 cessors ; and this, together with some faults in plan and execution, 

 deprive it of a valid raison d'etre." 



An examination of Professor Barnes' text-book shows, as indeed 

 the preface states, that " the whole book is simply a restatement of 

 widely-known facts." Although it is certainly, in some aspects, 

 much superior to the text criticized by Professor B.'irnes, its supe- 

 riority to the most recent standard texts is not clear to us, and it is 

 difficult, therefore, to apply the author's criteria to his own book and 

 give it the words of approval. — w. l. j. 



SHORT ARTICLES. 



New Method of Making Botanical Charts. — A very 

 cheap and easy method for making colored charts and diagrams 

 is found in using ordinary blackboard crayons on unbleached 

 cotton- cloth. The crayons cost twenty-five cents per box, and 



