1896 | CURRENT LITERATURE 181 
notes which accompany each figure are interesting, but unfortunately some- 
times “ popularize” facts at the expense of accuracy. It needs to be insisted 
upon that simplicity of statement need not involve any inaccuracy, Why, 
for example, should the author mislead his readers by comparing the chicory 
head with a single flower in this wise : ‘Not only these straps, but the center 
of the flower (the stamens and styles) looks very much like the dandelion.” 
And of the everlasting (Gnaphalium) he writes: “ . . . the little white flowers 
are so much like miniature pond lilies under the microscope that the 
resemblance is amusing,” For the readers, however, these slips will not be 
disquieting, and are only worth mention because they mar an otherwise good 
R. B. 
ONE OF THE most interesting contributions from the National Herbarium 
is that by Mr. P. A. Rydberg upon the flora of the Black Hills of South 
Dakota. The region is often called an intermediate one, because the floras 
both east and west of it have received more attention. The report, therefore, 
deals with one of the regions most in need of investigation. In his prefatory 
discussion Mr, Rydberg deals with such topics as geography, geology, alti- 
tudes, precipitation and temperature, and floral districts. Under the last 
topic he considers five districts differing in topographical and climatic con- 
ditions, and hence in vegetation. They are the foothills, Minnekahta plains, 
amnéy mountain range, limestone district, and northern hills. It is inter- 
€sting to note that the characteristic plants of the foothill region are grouped 
as follows: very hairy plants ; plants with a glaucous foliage having a hard 
epidermis; plants with white, often shreddy, stems; plants in which the 
surface is reduced toa minimum; and plants with a deep-seated, enlarged 
root, 
The catalogue of species, which is full of valuable notes as to range 
and habit, contains about 700 spermatophytes and pteridophytes. One of 
the most interesting discoveries was that of true Aguilegia brevistyla in the 
United States, the plant from the Rocky mountains heretofore bearing that 
hame having been proved to be quite a distinct species, which Mr. Rydberg 
has called 4, Saximontana, The plates consist of a good map of the region 
heey Aquilegias referred to, and Poa pseudopratensis, a new grass.— 
imu. C€ 
NOTES FOR STUDENTS. 
ound’ that in herbaceous perennials differences in the 
content exist in the course of the winter similar to those well known 
_ ROSENBERG has f 
Starch 
M trees through the very exhaustive researches of Fischer.—C. R. B. 
ba Deg P. A.— Flora of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Contributions 
the 
U. S. National Herbarium 3+ 463-536. 1896. [No. 8.] 
’ Bot. Centralb, 66 : 337. 1896 
