386 The Botanical Gazette. »  [September, 
Minor Notices. 
ANOTHER practical botany has been added to the list of laboratory 
guides, this time for beginners. Professor Bower: has really given us 
an abridgement of his “ Course of Practical Instruction in Botany,” 
so that its spirit and method is familiar. The book can be of excel- 
lent service in our secondary schools, and even in the elementary 
courses of most colleges, provided, always, that it is in the hands ofa 
competent teacher, and this any book demands. The information as 
to methods of preparation, and the introductory exercises on the 
structure of the vegetable cell, and the common micro-chemical reac- 
tions, are very helpful to the inexperienced teacher. As is known, 
the author begins with the highest types, an order of treatment which 
we do not consider scientific or necessary. There is no reason why 
the mucor of the last study should be any more difficult for a beginner 
to see and to understand than the tissues and ovule structures of the 
first types. The excellence of the work demanded, however, and the 
scientific spirit of it all, needs no comment. 
THE PROCEEDINGS of the Madison Botanical Congress have recently 
been published by Secretary J. C. Arthur. The issue was much ¢ 
layed by the dilatoriness of speakers and committeemen in revising 
manuscript and proof sheets. The report makes a han somely 
printed pamphlet of sixty pages with an index by which all references 
to the matters discussed can easily be found. Copies may be obtal 
by application to Dr. J. C. Arthur, Lafayette, Indiana. 
IN CONNECTION with the study of some recent collections, Be 
H. Knowlton? has given a review of the fossil flora of Alaska. 
historical review, list of species, and discussion of beds are Or aa 
the 115 forms enumerated forty-six are peculiar to Alaska. a a 
author has published in Zhe Journal of Geology (May-Jun WS 
instructive paper on “ Fossil plants as an aid to geology. 
A RECENT contribution® from the Gray Herbarium contains ate! 
tions of some twenty-five new Mexican plants, among them* 
tiful new pine (P. Lumholtzii) with dense pendulous foliage 
figured in Scribner's Magazine. 
* Bower, F. O.—Practical botany for 
& Co., London and New York, 1894. 90 cents. 
*KNnow.ton, F. H.—A review of the fossil flora pl. 1. 3894 ¥ : 
_ of new species. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 17: 207-240. Pf. 4- | 7a py Be 
®Rosinson, B. L. and Fernatp, M. L.—New plants cola to north 
C. V. Hartman and C. E. Lloyd upon an archzologica: © Pre 
30: 114-123. Aug. 27. 1 
