Bibliography. 381 



and the transactions of societies, or existing in the form of separate 

 monographs, all difficult of access — certainly beyond the m^ans of 

 most students, and nowhere perhaps to be found in any one collection. 

 He has simplified the synonymy, which in certain departments was 

 peculiarly complex, and given to the nomenclature an accuracy of 

 orthography and accent, which is the more creditable, inasmuch as it is 

 so rarely found in American scientific works. The accomplished con- 

 ductor of the Cambridge press has won for himself an enviable reputa- 

 tion for classic accuracy, while in the mechanical details of typographic 

 execution that press has long stood unsurpassed. 



Prof. Dewey, in his report on the herbaceous flowering plants 

 of Massachusetts, has endeavored, as far as was practicable without 

 too great a sacrifice of scientific accuracy, to adapt his labors to the 

 comprehension and use of those who were not particularly scientific. 

 With this view, the economical value, the properties and uses of all 

 plants interesting to the agriculturist, have very properly been ex- 

 pounded and made plain. The arrangement is mostly in accordance 

 with the orders of Lindley, with a blending of the artificial classifica- 

 tion of Linnaeus. Prof. Dewey is well known to all readers of this 

 Journal, more particularly in the earlier volumes, by his numerous and 

 valuable papers on the Carices of North America. The report is such 

 as might have been expected, from the well known reputation of the 

 excellent author. 



The report of Prof. Emmons on the quadrupeds is of course 

 short, since the small number of genera which fall within so narrow 

 a territory as Massachusetts, leaves but little room for expansion. This 

 report, although not equal to the purposes of a thorough natural- 

 ist, is yet good of its kind, and fully sufficient for the use intended. 

 Forty three species of quadrupeds are given as inhabiting Massa- 

 chusetts ; these fall into the orders, Carnivora, Rodentia, and Euminan- 

 tia, and are grouped into twelve natural families, as follows : — Bats, 

 three ; Shrew mole, one ; Common mole, three ; Ursidje, two ; Can- 

 idse, three ; Felidje, three ; Mustelidffi, (weasel family — including the 

 skunk,) seven ; Castoridae, two ; Leporida?, two ; Muscidae, fourteen ; 

 Hystricidae, one ; Cervidas, three. The reindeer is also given, on the 

 rather improbable supposition of its having once appeared as a winter 

 visitant ; moose-deer have not been seen in Massachusetts within the 

 past forty years — they are still hunted in the northern parts of New 

 England, and in Pennsylvania, between the branches of the Susque- 

 hanna. We cannot but regret that this report is unaccompanied by 

 figures of the animals described ; the species arc so few that it might 

 have been done with comparative ease, and would have greatly en- 

 hanced the value of the work in the estimation of students. 



