346 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 715 



arduous task was undertaken by Professor J. 

 E. Ainswortli Davis, of the University Col- 

 lege of Wales. The first volume of the trans- 

 lation appeared in 1906; the second has just 

 been published. The first volume differs from 

 the original German, in that it contains the 

 bibliography up to January 1, 1904. The 

 second has been translated without substantial 

 alterations, except that it is much more clearly 

 printed, with fewer abbreviations. No at- 

 tempt has been made to bring it up to date. 

 The third volume, now in press, will finish the 

 account of the European observations; and 

 the fourth will be prepared next autumn or 

 winter. The last part of Knuth's work, deal- 

 ing with the " aussereuropaischen " observa- 

 tions, was naturally the most incomplete 

 (pathetically so for many parts of the world!) ; 

 and hence Professor Ainsworth Davis, in spite 

 of the great increase of work involved, has 

 arranged to incorporate all new information 

 available up to the date of going to press. 

 This will make the final volume almost a new 

 book, and as such it will be invaluable to all 

 students of flower pollination. American 

 students should be careful to forward to Pro- 

 fessor Davis any papers they may have writ- 

 ten bearing upon the subject, and also any 

 manuscript data they are able to furnish. 

 Those who have the German edition will be 

 able to note the omission of important data, 

 and will have a chance this summer to make 

 many observations which can be incorporated.' 



The second volume, the immediate subject 

 of this notice, is of great value to American 

 workers. In the first place, most of the Euro- 

 pean plants described are of American genera, 

 and not a few of the species are cireumpolar; 

 in the second, there are many observations on 

 purely American forms, made in European 

 botanical gardens. So closely, indeed, are the 

 European and American data related, that we 

 can not help greatly regretting that they were 

 not combined in a single series. The separa- 

 tion of the European and American sections 

 will doubtless result in many workers procur- 



" Professor Ainsworth Bavis has just been ap- 

 pointed principal of the Royal Agricultural Col- 

 lege, Cirencester, and should be addressed there 

 after September 1. 



ing only the one or the other, according to 

 their place of residence. This will have the 

 most unfortunate results; for example, Amer- 

 ican observers may work on particular genera, 

 ignorant of the illuminating results obtained 

 in Europe; or Europeans may take the records 

 from botanical gardens as fairly representa- 

 tive for American genera, overlooking the 

 very different data obtainable where these 

 plants grow wild. 



In the present state of the science, it is un- 

 avoidable that a work on flower pollination 

 should contain a large amount of undigested 

 information. The precise meaning of the 

 long lists of visitors can not always be de- 

 termined; and no doubt any author who 

 should try to dispense with these lists, and 

 state the results of research in general terms, 

 would fall into many errors. There are, of 

 course, many important and suggestive gen- 

 eralizations in the book ; but every worker will 

 be glad that he is supplied with the actual 

 data at the back of these, data which he can 

 compare minutely with those accumulated by 

 himself. 



In a work compiled from so many different 

 sources there will necessarily be some errors. 

 Thus the map on p. 49 does not do justice to 

 the distribution of the humble-bees. Bombus 

 extends quite to the north of Greenland (cf. 

 Peary) and in Asia reaches the Philippines 

 {B. mearnsi Ashmead), Sumatra {B. senex 

 Snellen and B. sumatrensis Ckll.) and Java 

 (B. rufipes Lep.). 



T. D. A. COCKERELL 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 REVISION OP " THE NEW YORK SERIES." 



The writer submits the following rearrange- 

 ment of a part of Clarke and Schuchert's 

 classification of the New York Paleozoic, in- 

 cluding changes based chiefly upon the recent 

 work of Hartnagel and others : 



Hartnagel's redetermination of the Oneida 

 conglomerate as the equivalent of the topmost 

 or true Medina sandstone, and his separation 

 from the latter of the great thickness of barren 

 shales constituting his " lower Medina " with 

 the suggestion of a disconformity at their top. 



