496 Forestry Quarterly. 



the introduction of new woods. The fact that gross characters 

 are used as far as possible should appeal to the layman who may 

 omit the microscopic features entirely and still be able to identify 

 a large number of our native woods. The letters placed after the 

 names in the key indicate in a general way the range of the 

 species, and this often helps in separating the woods, if the 

 structural characters are not sufficiently distinct to make identi- 

 fication certain. 



Whether for educational purposes or practical use it would 

 have been preferable to give separate keys for genera and for 

 species is a question which may be settled by use of the present 

 key. 



The principal use of the key, however, is in forest school 

 laboratories. Hand specimens can be taken up and studied in 

 the order given, furnishing a good opportunity to become 

 thoroughly familiar with all of the commercial woods of the 

 United States. The layman may feel that Part I is burdened 

 with the technical names of trees. This criticism could have 

 been avoided by using both common and scientific names in the 

 text. Common names alone are confusing, for the reason that 

 one name is often applied to a great many different woods. 

 Both common and botanical names are given in the key, but 

 elsewhere in the book the reader is obliged to look up the Latin 

 name in the index, and then turn to the key to find the corres- 

 ponding common name. 



There is appended an extensive bibliography made up of books, 

 which will be very helpful to those who wish to refer to a more 

 complete discussion of certain woods. Not only are the most 

 familiar books cited, but also a large number of more or less 

 obscure works which offer excellent means for further reading 

 of a more technical character. A number of the German and 

 French works named are not readily accessible, however, and 

 can be of use only to the few who are favorably situated near 

 large libraries. 



The illustrations are numerous, wisely chosen, and well 

 executed. The pen drawings of the microscopic structures, 

 though diagrammatic, are excellent, and all the half tones are 

 clear. In addition to the valuable plates showing transverse and 



