BOOK REVIEW 29 



Book Review. 



BY J. LUNELL. 



The Sixth Biennial Report of the Director of the Agricultural 

 College Soil and Geological Survey of North Dakota to the Governor 

 of North Dakota {igii-iQi2) by Herbert A. Hard. Chapter XI: 

 Plant Survey of Barnes County by H. F Bergman. Chapter XI I.- 

 Flora of North Dakota by H. F. Bergman. 



In briefly reporting these publications written by an author 

 who professes views often diametrically opposed to my own I 

 would feel sorry if some reader considered this paper a missile from 

 enemy trenches intending to hurt. Nor is it a peace message. 

 By all means I wish it to be permeated by a spirit of fairness. 



I shall not repeat what I have said once before about the vital 

 defects of plant surveys. I am glad that they are abolished within 

 our state. There are more sensible, quicker and less expensive 

 methods for exploring the flora of a land area. The catalogue of 

 Barnes County plants in chapter XI. is as complete as can be 

 expected from the few seconds or minutes spent on each different 

 square yard of its surface, perhaps never to be visited again, and no 

 fault can be found with the collector. 



I can not refrain here from calling attention to many incon- 

 sistencies or discrepancies, not to say contradictions, to be found 

 in the nomenclature adopted in chapters XI and XII. As the report 

 evidently is written not only for a few botanists of the state, but for 

 any and all of our interested citizens, no matter what standing 

 they occupy, one name for the same plant ought to have been 

 preferred, and if this were thought insufficient, synonyms ought 

 to have been added parenthetically. Such uniformity ought to 

 have been welcome to the readers and facilitate their efforts to 

 master the contents of the book. The more liberal views in chapter 

 XI have a tendency of becoming narrowed down "to the first 

 principles" in chapter XII as f. i. Potamogeton richardsonii to 

 P. perfoliatus, Alisma subcordatum to A. planta go -aquatic a, Salicornia 

 herbacea to 5. europaea, Atriplex ovata to A. suckleyana, Salsola tragus 

 to 5. kali, Delphinium albescens to D. penardi, Prunus melanocarpa 

 to P. virginiana, Viola scabriuscula to V. pubescens, and Viola 

 subvestita to V. adunca. Here we find that the perferred name in 

 chapter XI is the synonym in chapter XII, while only one name is 



