770 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 726 



A Precursor of the Darwins," by May M. 

 Jarvis, M.A., University of Texas, Austin ; 

 " Fossil Tracks in tlie Del Rio Shale," by Pro- 

 fessor J. A. Udden, Augustana College, Rock 

 Island, 111. ; " Some Figures on the Cost of 

 Train Service," by E. A. Thompson, C.E., 

 chief engineer of the Texas Railroad Com- 

 mission ; " The 'Law of the Fall of Rivers and 

 the Value of the Deduced Curve in River 

 Improvements," by F. Oppikofer, C.E., Tar- 

 pon, Texas. 



BOTANICAL NOTES 



ANOTHER ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY 



The recently published (Macmillan) " First 

 Course in Biology" prepared by Bailey and 

 Coleman is disappointing in that the presenta- 

 tion of the two sides of the subject is very 

 unequal, that relating to plants being much 

 inferior in every way to that relating to ani- 

 mals. Pedagogically, practically, and still 

 more, scientifically the treatment of " Plant 

 Biology " falls far below what we had a right 

 to expect from the author. In the two hun- 

 dred pages given to this subject there are 

 brought out a great many interesting and 

 useful facts, charmingly told, but they are 

 presented in an unorganized form. There ap- 

 pears to be no orderly sequence in the pres- 

 entation of the matter contained in the 

 chapters. Thus the pupil is told in the first 

 chapter that " no two plants are alike," which 

 may or may not be important for him at this 

 stage of his education; then aext he is asked 

 to consider plant adaptation, followed by two 

 pages devoted to "the survival of the fit." 

 The fourth chapter deals with " plant socie- 

 ties," the fifth with " the plant body," the 

 sixth with " seeds and germination," the 

 seventh and eighth with the root, ete. The 

 twenty-third chapter includes six pages, de- 

 voted to " phenogams and cryptogams," a 

 careful study of which must leave the pupil in 

 a good deal of confusion as to the differences 

 between spore-bearing and other plants, and 

 the nature and significance of alternation of 

 generations. The closing chapter consists of 

 " more extended excursions into the crypto- 

 gamous orders." The author's unfamiliarity 

 with this portion of the plant kingdom is 



evident. Witness this description of lichens 

 (r- 195) — " they are thin, gray, ragged objects, 

 apparently lifeless," and " they are now knovm 

 to be green cells of various species of algae 

 overgrown and held together (imprisoned) by 

 the mycelium of various kinds of fungi." 

 What idea could a high-school pupil get from 

 such statements? In the preface to the book 

 the author refers approvingly to the " revolt 

 against the laboratory method" and decries 

 the study of botany " without really knowing 

 plants" — but certainly this book in its pres- 

 ent form is not likely to remedy these educa- 

 tional abuses. It must be remembered that 

 even though one may intend to be very " prac- 

 tical," and have the gift of entertaining and 

 attractive writing, it is stiU necessary to be 

 strictly accurate in the statement of facts, and 

 to carefully arrange the sequence in which 

 these statements are presented. It is clear 

 that the botanical part of this book should be 

 revised, rewritten and rearranged before a 

 second edition is issued. 



CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAIN BOTANY 



Some time last year Mr. Stewardson Brown, 

 the curator of the herbarium of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, brought 

 out a pretty book on the " Alpine Flora of the 

 Canadian Rocky Mountains " (Putnams). 

 The author says it " is meant only as a guide 

 to the rich and interesting flora of the Cana- 

 dian Rockies and Selkirks, or those portions 

 traversed by the Canadian Pacific Railway be- 

 tween Banff and Glacier." It is thus a 

 tourist's book, but its treatment is such that 

 it becomes a useful book for the botanist, 

 also. 



It opens with a glossary of such terms as 

 might puzzle the non-botanical amateur, and 

 following this is a good key to the families. 

 In the text the characterization of the families 

 is brief and non-technical, as are also the 

 descriptions of species. The genera are not 

 characterized further than is done in the keys 

 to the genera given at the beginning of each 

 family. It should be stated that the nomen- 

 clature is of the modern kind. At frequent 

 intervals are plates, either half-tones of photo- 

 graphs, or colored reproductions of water- 



