NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 83 



scientific name. The volume of 361 pages is of an encyclopedic 

 character and will be of importance to all students of economic 

 botany. Numerous cuts are scattered through the text, and there 

 are, in addition, twenty-five photogravure illustrations. 



The Engelmann Botanical Club is a new society at St. Louis 

 of which Dr. Trelease, of the Missouri Botanical Garden, is presi- 

 dent, and Hermann Von Schrenk is secretary. Its organization 

 dates from December, 1897. 



In the January number of the London Journal of Botany 

 Mr. Britten writes of one Mr. H. E. Brown, of Chico, California, 

 who has issued " a remarkable list of his collections." We have not 

 been able to procure a copy of this document, but Mr. Britten's 

 quotations show the author to be alike innocent of botany, Latin, 

 or any similar accomplishment. The editor of the Journal slyly 

 hazards the guess / that this list "embodies the latest American 

 researches into nomenclature," but the gap between this list and 

 some others is, perhaps, not so much of the nature of a chasm 

 after all. It may be added, that the collector sells his specimens 

 for "3 cents each or less." The cheapness of his specimens and 

 the character of his nomenclature certainly reveal a degree of 

 correspondence. 



The annual report of the Field Columbian Museum (of 

 Chicago) for the years 1896-7 illustrates graphically the method 

 of arranging the specimens of North American Forest^ Trees in 

 that institution. The representation of each species includes a 

 framed tray, containing a branch, flowers, and fruits, and a block 

 of wood from the same tree; a photograph of the tree in summer, 

 and another of the same tree in winter; a seven-foot trunk, a 

 transverse section, and a commercial plank ; a map of North 

 America colored to show the distribution of the species; and a 

 series of ornamental cabinet specimens of the wood. Such a col- 

 lation involves a great amount of labor and expense, but will 

 result in a most instructive series. 



In connection with its agricultural extension work, the Cornell 

 University experiment-station is issuing teachers' leaflets on nature 

 study for use in the common schools of New York. One of the 



