286 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [OCTOBER 
study in the schools. The author recommends “that this little book be used 
in connection with observations upon the specimens treated of; that the 
studies be read by the individual pupils, either with the objects in hand or 
for the purpose of inciting them to search for the specimens. .... It m 
then be advisable, after most of parts have been read, to review the wie 
subject by having the pupils begin at the first of the book = read it through 
SAPP high with or without studying the objects again.” With this purpose 
mind the author has described the way in which the wind and birds act as 
dieters of seed. He has, also, very briefly shown the method of seed 
distribution by spines and hooks. The book is attractively written and is accu- 
rate as to its facts. The illustrations, as a whole, are fairly good, but are 
very unequal in quality. The style is not always simple, but the book gener- 
ally will be quite intelligible to children. This is an addition to the list of 
available nature readers, and as such is to be warmly welcomed.—C. R. B. 
THE GENUS Cyclamen has been studied by Dr. Friedrich Hildebrand, 
whose results have recently been published.? The necessity of associating 
ecologic and taxonomic studies is becoming more and more apparent, and the 
monograph before us is a worthy type of the most effective method of investi- 
gating plant groups. The genus was very favorable for such study, contain- 
Ing only thirteen species, and all of them accessible, being restricted to the 
‘ Mediterranean region. In the disentanglement of herbarium material and 
literature, the author has found sufficient names already provided, except in 
the case of C. alpinum. It is the so-called “ biological’ part, however, that 
is of chief interest, and that deserves especial commendation to our tax- 
onomists. Any adequate review would mean a synopsis of the work.—J. M. 
THE SERIES of classics in various exact sciences, which are being pub- 
lished by Engelmann, has been enriched by the addition of no. 95, which 
includes four papers by Ernst von Briicke.2 These papers are as follows: 
I, Bluten des Rebstockes; II, Bewegungen der Mimosa pudica (1848) ; Il, 
Elementarorganismen (1861); IV, Brennhaare von Urtica. All these papers 
are interesting, especially to show how at an early period in the study of plant 
physiology exact and careful experimentation led to well-founded and stable 
results. Probably the best known of the four papers is the second one, which 
Sachs calls a model of accurate experimentation and clear presentation. 
Briicke was trained for medicine, and in 1843 became an assistant in the 
Museum of Comparative Anatomy through his relations with Johannes Miller. 
° WEED, CLARENCE MoorEs.— Seed travellers : study of methods of distribution 
of various common seeds. 12mo. pp: vii 53, fgs. 36. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1599- 
7 HILDEBRAND, Dr. FRIEDRICH. — Die Gites Cyclamen L., eine systematische 
und ene goto ae pp. 190. fl. 6. Jena: Gustav Fischer. 1898. 4. 8. 
®Ostwald’s Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften no. 95. Physiologische 
Abhandlungen. 12mo. pp. 86. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann. 1898. 4/. 1.40. 
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