ee a a ae ee eee eee ee 
Le ee oe Se ae TERS Ve ae Se eee ee eee Me ee en eee ee ee Se 
1898] CURRENT LITERATURE : 61 
considers in this volume only the Equisetales and Sphenophyllales. Both of 
these groups are abundantly preserved and well known. At the close of the 
volume is an excellent bibliography. 
This work has at least three features to commend it that are by no means 
common to all books on paleobotany. It is extremely cautious in its state- 
ments ; many forms commonly described are either classified tentatively or 
omitted altogether; there are not so many startling allusions to high grade 
plants in the early ages, but there are more real facts on which to base safe 
conclusions. Another valuable feature of the book is that important facts 
have been culled out from a mass of unimportant material, and by no means 
least in its commendable qualities is that it is actually readable; even the 
botanical or geological layman may enjoy it, if he cares for such things at 
all. Everyone who reads the first volume will anxiously await the appear- 
ance of the second.— HENry C. CowLEs. 
MINOR NOTICES. 
Dr. L. M. UNDERWOOD read a wise and vigorous paper on the study of 
botany in high schools before the New York Science Teachers’ Association 
last December. Copies from the Journal of Pedagogy for April have been 
distributed. 
Dr. W. F, Ganon published in this journal seven years ago (May 1891) 
a brief account of the raised peat bogs of New Brunswick. During the sum- 
mers of 1895 and 1896 he was able to give these additional study, and has 
now published a much more complete and detailed description of the ecolog- 
ical and physical features of these interesting areas.3-—C. R. B. 
TWo BULLETINS of the U.S. F orestry Division have recently been issued. 
_ Bulletin no. 15 is by F. V. Coville, on “ Forest growth and sheep grazing 
in the Cascade mountains of Oregon.” It furnishes an account of the 
methods of sheep grazing on the government reservations in the region 
named, and their relation to forest preservation both from overgrazing and 
from fires. Under recent legislation the Interior Department is empowered 
to make regulations governing grazing on public lands. This report suggests 
an equitable and apparently feasible system. 
Bulletin no. 16 discusses the “ Forestry conditions and interests of we 
consin.” It presents the information acquired by Mr. Filibert Roth, a special 
agent of the department, who made a forest census under the auspices of the 
State forestry commission and the natural history survey. Botanists will be 
§lad to know that Wisconsin is awakening to an interest in rational forest 
management. The recommendations of Dr. Fernow, based upon the infor- 
* Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada II. 2: 131-163. Ags. 47: 1897. 
