204 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



The third essay, on " The Philosophy of Bud-variation," has 

 already been noticed in Natural Science (vol. vii., p. 103). Briefly 

 put, it maintains that new varieties and species can be bred from 

 buds and cuttings just as well as from seeds, although in nature 

 seeds have the advantage owing to their greater dispersal. These 

 phenomena, according to Mr. Bailey, render Weismann's conception 

 of the germ-plasm, not merely unnecessary, but untrue. 



Much of the book is devoted to relating the evolution of various 

 horticultural varieties, or even, as Mr. Bailey would call them, species. 

 The main conclusions are brought together in the essay on " Experi- 

 mental Evolution amongst Plants," which shows that many garden 

 forms are as distinct from one another and from their ancestors as are 

 the corresponding wild forms, and that they are therefore just as much 

 entitled to be called species, for "form" is the only criterion of specific 

 difference. To the demand for experimental evidence of evolution, 

 our author replies,—" The horticulturist is one of the very few men 

 whose distinct business and profession is evolution. He, of all other 

 men, has the experimental proof that species come and go." 



George Henslow. 



Thomas Say as Paleontologist. 



The fifth Bulletin of American Palaeontology, issued on December 7, 

 1896, by Gilbert D. Harris, Ithaca, N.Y., at a price of $1.77 to non- 

 subscribers, turns out to be, not the original monograph for which 

 Professor Harris offered a prize some months ago, but " A Reprint of 

 the palseontological writings of Thomas Say," a piece of work 

 probably quite as valuable. Say's five careful papers were published 

 from 1819 to 1825 in the first series of Silliman's Journal (now the 

 American Journal of Science) and in the Journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Both publications are now scarce. 

 An appendix to this Bulletin, issued in January, 1897, reprints various 

 footnotes contributed by Say to the " Account of an Expedition from 

 Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains . . . under the Command of 

 Major Stephen H. Long," Philadelphia, 1823. They describe, and 

 in some cases name, fossils collected by the Expedition. It is to Say 

 that we owe the first description of Pentremitcs, which, by the way, he 

 invariably called Pentremite, and the foundation of the order Blastoidea; 

 he also introduced Caryocrinus and Exogyra. The present reprint 

 follows the originals " word for word, line for line, page for page, and 

 plate for plate " ; it seems to be intended as an exact reproduction, 

 and therefore three misprints in the second article, " lamarck," 

 "silecified," and "abrubtly," should have been left, as in the original. 

 Surely it would not be much more expensive to reproduce the original 

 text by photo-engraving, just as the plates have been copied. This 

 would obviate all risk of error. 



New Serials. 



From Paris we receive No. i (Janvier, 1897) of Revue Critique de 

 Paleozoologie, a quarterly published under the direction of Maurice 

 Cossmann, 95 Rue de Maubeuge, with an annual subscription of six 

 francs within the postal union. In this number Mr. Cossmann 

 reviews general works and palaeoconchology ; J. Lambert, echino- 

 derms ; and G. F. DoUfus, Bryozoa, zoophytes, and Foraminifera. 

 It is proposed to analyse the important palaeontological works of each 

 year, without respect to nationality, while indices of new names and 

 of strata will be provided to each volume. Short rectifications of 



