1903] CURRENT LITERATURE 395 
the heath® was the first of an ecological series on the formations of central 
Europe, so Drude’s contribution is the first of a floristic series in the same 
region. The most striking feature of the present volume is its marvelous 
detail. Exact facts are presented as to the distribution of all of the higher 
plants, and many of the lower plants. An opportunity is thus given for 
drawing conclusions as to distribution with almost mathematical certainty. 
After the usual presentation of historical and geological data, a detailed 
account is made of the thirty formations of the Hercynic region, placed in ten 
groups. The body of the work is taken up with a minute discussion of the 
fifteen subdivisions, into which Drude splits this area. It is here that the 
individuality and value of this work is best realized; one may well admire 
the spirit which has prompted the years of exact and careful study making 
such a volume possible. The closing section treats the relation between the 
Hercynic and neighboring floras, and the glacial and postglacial history of 
the Hercynic flora. Not only an abundance of glacial relicts but some inter- 
glacial relicts are reported. While the book is scarcely one to be read by one 
who is unfamiliar with the region, it must be of unspeakable value to German 
plant geographers. Moreover, all will welcome a volume upon which so 
much care and pains have been taken to secure an accurate | ipa aae of 
floristic data.—H. C. CowLEs. 
MINOR NOTICES. 
a E ADDITIONAL NUMBERS of Karsten and Schenck’s Vegetations- 
bilder? have recently appeared. Schenck has prepared the third number, 
dealing with economic plants from the tropics: Thea, Theobroma, Coffea, 
Myristica, and Carica. The fourth number by Karsten portrays the tropical 
and subtropical rainy forests of Mexico. The fifth number is issued by 
Schenck, and consists of pictures from southwestern Africa; a desert with 
Welwitschia, a euphorbia steppe, a shrub steppe, Aloe dichotoma, acacias 
along a dry stream bed, Euclea. As stated in the former review,® these illus- 
trations are accompanied by full descriptions, and set forth most admirably 
the vegetation features of far distant lands.—H. C. Cowes. 
NOTES FOR STUDENTS. 
PAMPALONI® records two species of fungi from the middle Miocene of 
Sicily, referring them to the genera Uncinu/ites and Erysiphites. They are 
reconsidered by Salmon,” the well known authority on these plants, who 
considers that Evysiphites is not related to the modern Erysiphaceae and that 
Uncinulites should be considered as a species of C ercosporites. —E. W. BERRY. 
®See Bor. Gaz. 35: 293. 1903. 
ARSTEN, G., and SCHENCK, H., Vegetationsbilder. Hefts 3, 4, 5. As. 73-30. 
Jena: Gustav Fischer. 1903. 
8 Bot. Gaz. 35: 294. 1903. 
9PAMPALONI, L., Rendiconti della R. Accad. dei Lincei rr: 250-251. 1902. 
SALMON, E. S., Journ. Botany 41: 127-130. 1903. 
