October 8, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



489 



worthy Plants from Colombia and Central 

 jVnierica " (XII., 5), with two plates and nine 

 text figures; A. S. Hitchcock's "Grasses of 

 Cuba" (XII., 6); J. N. Eose's "Studies of 

 Mexican and Central American Plants — No. 

 6 " (XII., 7) ; with eight plates and twenty- 

 nine text figures; Paul C. Standley's " Allio- 

 naceae of the United States, with Notes on 

 Mexican Species" (XII., 8) with sixteen 

 plates and nineteen text figures; Britton and 

 Rose's paper on" Thompsonella," "Echeveria" 

 and " New Species of Crassulaceae " (XII., 

 9) with five plates ; Britton and Eose's " Genus 

 Cereus and its Allies in North America " 

 (XII.. 10), with sixteen plates; J. N. Eose's 

 " Five New Species of Crassulaceae from 

 Mexico" (XII., 10), with five plates; Coulter 

 and Eose's " Supplement to the Monograph of 

 the North American Umbelliferae " (XII., 

 10), with two plates; and G. N. Collins's 

 "Apogamy in the Maize Plant" (XII., 10), 

 with two plates showing the replacement of the 

 staminate flowers by young leafy, and root- 

 forming maize plants; and Wm, E. Maxon's 

 " Studies of Tropical American Ferns — No. 2 " 

 (XIII., 1), with nine plates and one text 

 figure, and including descriptions of many 

 new species. 



Much botanical activity is shown by the two 

 recently issued " Contributions from the Gray 

 Herbarium of Harvard University " (XXXVI. 

 and XXXVII.), in the first of which there are 

 papers by Alice Eastwood (" Synopsis of the 

 Mexican and Central American Species of 

 CastiUeja " and " Some Undescribed Species 

 of Mexican Phanerogams ") ; B. L. Eobinson 

 (" A Eevision of the Genus Rumfordia," 

 " Diagnoses and Transfers of Tropical Amer- 

 ican Phanerogams ") ; and H. H. Bartlett 

 (" A Synopsis of the American Species of 

 Litsea," " Notes on Mexican and Central 

 American Alders," " The Purple-flowered 

 Androcerae of Mexico and the Southern 

 United States " and " Descriptions of Mex- 

 ican Phanerogams"). It is worthy of notice 

 that all descriptions and keys, whether generic 

 or specific, are given in Latin, in accord- 

 ance with Article 39 of the Vienna Code. 

 The second contribution is Jolui E. Johnston's 



" Flora of the Islands of Margarita and Coche, 

 Venezuela," and consists of a general discus- 

 sion of the vegetation, and controlling phys- 

 ical factors, an annotated catalogue of species, 

 lists of the economic plants, distribution, and 

 composition, etc. The paper, which covers 

 about 150 pages, is accompanied by two maps 

 of the islands, and six plates illustrating the 

 vegetation or structural details of the plants. 

 E. L. Greene resumes the printing of his 

 "Leaflets" (Vol. II., 1-24, February, 1909) 

 by the publication of four papers — " New Spe- 

 cies of the Genus Mimulus," " New Western 

 Asteraceae," " New Composites from Oregon, 

 Washington and Idaho " and " New Plants 

 from Arizona." 



Here may be noticed Eosendahl and But- 

 ters's " Guide to the Ferns and Fern Allies 

 of Minnesota " intended to enable students to 

 identify the sixty species of these plants found 

 in the state. This is accomplished by means 

 of keys, plates and text figures, all of which 

 are excellent. 



" The Forests of Mindoro," by M. L. Mer- 

 ritt, of the Philippine Bureau of Forestry, is 

 a fifty-page pamphlet of much interest to both 

 foresters and botanists. It is intended to give 

 some idea of the country, the distribution and 

 the composition of the forest areas of the 

 island of Mindoro. This island lies about a 

 hundred miles southwest of Manila, and con- 

 tains a little less than four thousand square 

 miles. A mountain chain extends its whole 

 length, rising at one point to 8,500 feet, and 

 this is bordered with foothills and broad al- 

 luvial coastal plains. Nearly two thirds of 

 this area is covered with forests, the remainder 

 is nearly all uncultivated grass lands, only 

 about one per cent, being under cultivation. 

 The report, which is illustrated by ten half- 

 tone plates, and a map, closes with a " list of 

 tree species collected in Mindoro and smaller 

 adjacent islands," numbering 560 species. 

 When we remember that these occur upon an 

 area equal to about half a dozen counties the 

 richness of the forest flora may be appreciated. 

 C. B. Eobinson's " Philippine Chlorantha- 

 ceae " and " Philippine Phyllanthinae " (Phil. 

 Jour. Science, April, 1909) includes a sys- 



