284 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [APRIL 
Phytogeography of Nebraska was a work that marked a distinct advance in 
the ecological investigation of our country. MacMillan has now given us 
an attractive presentation of the plant life of Minnesota.? The purpose of 
this work, however, is different from that of the earlier one. Its style is less 
technical and the pages abound in illustrations. The author distinctly states 
that his purpose is the botanical education of the people of Minnesota, not 
through the use of the book as a text, but rather through its intelligent perusal 
by the wide-awake boys and girls of the state. The author remarks that the 
book is more the offspring of the woods and lakes than of the laboratory and 
library. The work, then, is to be judged from the standpoint of the people 
rather than from the standpoint of the botanist, although Professor Mac- 
Millan endeavors to make the book scientific as well as popular. 
The introductory chapter deals with the relation of the Minnesota flora to 
that of the whole country, and the author gives a brief discussion of the 
forest and prairie with their lines of tension. Then follows a chapter on the 
wanderings and migrations of plants. Most of the book (390 out of 525 
pages) is taken up with a popular and readable description of the plants of 
the state, beginning with the slime-molds and closing with the composites. 
Common names are given in most instances, even if they have to be intro- 
duced for the occasion, as in the case of many of the lower forms. The 
cryptogams are given great prominence, and are well illustrated by a num- 
ber of excellent half tones. The feature of this part of the work is the 
untechnical description of the various species. In most cases the ecological 
and economic relations of the plants are most fully treated, as they should be 
in a work of this kind. More technical chapters are also introduced for 
those who are interested in the philosophy of the subject ; such chapters are 
those that deal with alternation of generations and the meaning of the seed 
habit. 
The latter part of the book is distinctly ecological, treating the adapta- 
tions of plants to their surroundings and also the plant societies in the 
familiar way. The last two chapters are physiological, dealing with nutrition 
and reproduction. 
This work does not pretend to be an addition to science, sous many 
of the photographs may be regarded as contributions along this line. Th 
wealth of illustration is one of the strongest features of the saa and it is 
doubtless superior in this regard to any work that has yet appeared ip 
America. Not only are the illustrations numerous, but they show what they 
are said to show, which is not true of all illustrated books. The style is very 
* MACMILLAN, Conway: Minnesota Plant Life. Report of the Survey, Botan} 4 
cal Series HI. Imp. 8vo. pp. xxv + 568. p/. 4. figs. 2go. St. Paul, Minn.: alae 
by authority of the Board of Regents of the University for the People of Minnesota- 
1899. 
