SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



277 



the illustrations simple portraits, generally reduced as befits the size of 

 the page are from drawings made on the spot. The author seems to hesi- 

 tate when he differs from Dr. Asa Gray, hut he need not. If he has seen 

 the Atamasco lily in bloom in May, while Gray had not the opportunity so 

 to see it; if he finds a certain aster, supposed to be peculiar to southern New 

 England, common in New Hampshire; if he finds colors and shadings 

 which Gray knew not, or has a clearer vision of their distinctions ; or if he 

 knows other facts or has seen other qualities in flowers which Gray did 

 not, he is able to add to knowledge, it is his duty to tell of it, and he de- 

 serves thanks. An alphabetical index at the end of the book gives the 

 names, colors, and localities of familiar flowers of the United States, with a 

 floral calendar. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



The Haandbog i den Systematiske Botanik 

 of Dr. E. Warming has long been recognized 

 as an original and important contribution 

 to the literature of the subject The pres- 

 ent translation, by Prof. Potter,* from the 

 third Danish edition and from Dr. Knob- 

 lauch's German edition, has been enriched by 

 numerous additional notes kindly furnished by 

 the author. Besides Dr. Knoblauch's revision 

 of the fungi, the bacteria have been revised 

 by Dr. Migula, the Florideae rearranged after 

 Schmitz, and the Taphrinaceae after Lade- 

 beck. Instead of rearranging the orders of 

 the Angiosperms according to the systems 

 more familiar to English readers, the se- 

 quence in the Danish original is retained. 

 One of the principles of this arrangement is 

 thus defined by the author : " Each form 

 which on comparative morphological consid- 

 erations is clearly less simple or can be shown 

 to have arisen by reduction or through abor- 

 tion of another type having the same funda- 

 mental structure, or in which a further dif- 

 ferentiation and division of labor is found, 

 will be regarded as younger, and as far as 

 possible, and so far as other considerations 

 will admit, will be reviewed later than the 

 simpler, more complete, or richer forms." 

 In an appendix are given an outline of some 

 of the earlier systems of classification and 

 a more complete account of that of Hooker 

 and Bentham. A full index is provided. 



* A Handbook of Systematic Botany. By Dr. 

 E. Warming. With a Revision of the Fungi. By 

 Dr. E. Knoblauch. Translated and edited by M. 

 C. Potter, M. A., F. L. S. With 610 Illustrations. 

 Pp. 620, 8vo. London : Swan, Sonnenechein & 

 Co. Price, 15s. New York : Macmillan & Co. 

 Price, $3.75. 



The plan and general character of Prof 

 Vines' 's Student's Text-book of Botany were ex- 

 plained in our notice of the first half volume 

 in the Popular Science Monthly for July, 

 1894. This work is completed hi the second 

 half volume,* now before us. The subject 

 of classification is continued, beginning with 

 Group IV, Phanerogamia (or Spermophytd) 

 the preceding groups including the Tlicd- 

 lophyta, Bryophyta, and Pteridophyta and 

 completed, and the physiology of plants is 

 considered. The province of physiology is 

 defined by the author as being " the study of 

 those phenomena which, taken together, con- 

 stitute the life of the plant ; in other words, 

 while morphology is concerned with what 

 plants are, and histology with their struc- 

 ture, physiology deals with what they do." 

 The performance of their functions by the 

 organs of the plant being materially affected 

 by various external conditions, " the object 

 of physiology is not only to distinguish and 

 study the various functions and to determine 

 the relation between them and their internal 

 structure and the external forms of the or- 

 gans performing them, but also to determine 

 what are the external conditions by which 

 the performance of the external functions is 

 affected, and the modes in which these con- 

 ditions exert their influence." A very com- 

 plete index is given in two parts, " Classifi- 

 cation and Nomenclature," and " Morphology, 

 Anatomy, and Physiology." 



* Student's Text-book of Botany. By Sydney 

 H. Vines, M. A., D. Sc., F. R. S. With 469 Illus- 

 trations Pp. xvi + 431-821, 8vo. London : Swan, 

 Sonnenschein & Co. Price, 7*. Qd. New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Price, $2. 



