314 NATURAL SCIENCE. April. 1893. 



Few, even of the professional gardeners, will have any idea of the 

 wealth and variety to be found in this group of plants. Iris, for 

 instance, has no fewer than 161 species, Crocus has 66 species, Ixia 

 24, and Gladiolus as many as 132. Plants of this order have, 

 usually, such large and showy flowers, and many of them cross so 

 freely, that they are particularly adapted for experiments on cross-- 

 fertilisation. For this reason, as ■well as for their beauty, we should 

 hke to see the group more fully represented in our gardens and green- 

 houses. Mr. Baker's " Handbook," we may observe, is in English. 

 The author gives, besides the technical descriptions and habitat, full 

 references to the earlier authorities, and, in the case of rare forms, he 

 mentions the original discoverer. 



Those who work upon the Tertiary Fossils of the United States will 

 be gratified to hear that Dr. W. H. Dall has successfully grappled 

 with the difficult task of determining the dates of publication of 

 Conrad's books — "The Fossils of the Tertiary Formation " and the 

 " Medial Tertiary." These books were issued in separate parts, all 

 of which are now exceedingly scarce. Dr. Dall has given in his 

 paper (Bull. Phil. Soc. Washington, vol. xii., 1893, PP- 215-240) full 

 and exact descriptions of these separate parts and their contents, 

 and has thus rendered a service to conchologists, after an amount of 

 labour known to few. The paper gives an excellent idea of the 

 difficulties met with in determining and establishing an exact nomen- 

 clature when dealing with publications the dates and history of which 

 are involved and obscure. The author hopes to be able shortly to 

 reprint both of Conrad's works. Mr. G. D. Harris, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, is publishing a reprint of " P'ossil Shells of the Tertiary 

 Formations," at three dollars a copy, and invites subscriptions. 



We have received the first fascicule of Fernand Priem's " La 

 Terre " (Balliere, Paris), a book which deals with Seas and Conti- 

 nents, Physical Geography, Geology, and Mineralogy. This is, of 

 course, a more or less popular account of the subjects mentioned, but 

 the numerous and excellent engravings, which appear to be chiefly 

 taken from photographs, make it an exceptionally useful book for the 

 student. It will be completed in four parts, at two francs fifty 

 centimes each, and will contain 700 figures. 



Senhor Cazurro concludes his elaborate study of the actinian 

 Auemonia sulcata in the third part of volume xxi. of the Analcs Soc. 

 Espah. Hist. Nat. The structure of this form is worked out in the 

 most elaborate detail, and important light has thus been thrown on 

 the group. In the same number, Westerland prints a " Faunula 

 Molluscorum Hispalensis," and Girard a paper on " Cephalopodes 

 des cotes de I'Espagne." 



