April 30, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



703 



fifty illustrations in the text. There is first 

 a short historical chapter by Warwing on the 

 earlier botanical investigations of the islands, 

 followed by a chapter of about thirty pages by 

 C. H. Ostenfeld on the geography, geology, 

 climate, etc., in which we learn that there are 

 about twenty islands, of all sizes, from mere 

 islets to the larger islands thirty or more 

 kilometers long and ten to twelve in width. 

 They lie about 1° west of the meridian of 

 Greenwich, and in latitude 62° north of the 

 equator, and are nearly midway between Scot- 

 land and Iceland. In general they are moun- 

 tainous, the elevations reaching to between 

 eight and nine hundred meters. The air is 

 moist and cool, and there is much rainfall 

 (159.3 centimeters — nearly 64 inches). 



Following these general chapters are those 

 devoted to Phanerogamae (261 species) and 

 Pteridophyta (24 species), by C. H. Ostenfeld; 

 Bryophyta (338 species), by C. Jensen; Fresh- 

 water Algae (323 species), by E. Borgesen; 

 Freshwater Diatoms (248 species), by E. Ost- 

 rup; Fungi (168 species), by E. Eostrup, and 

 Lichens (194 species), by J. S. D. Branth. 



The second volume, which appeared in 1903, 

 includes papers on marine Algae (216 species), 

 by F. Borgesen; Marine Diatoms (182 spe- 

 cies), by E. Ostrup; Phytoplankton from the 

 Sea (93 species), by C. N. Ostenfeld; Phyto- 

 plankton from the Lakes (17 species), by F. 

 Borgesen and C. H. Ostenfeld; the Hieracia 

 of the Faeroes (21 species), by H. Dahlstedt, 

 and concludes with a History of the Flora of 

 the Faeroes, by Professor Warming in his 

 peculiarly lucid and interesting style. In 

 summing up his conclusions he says he is fully 

 convinced " that the whole flora — at least all 

 the more highly organized land plants — have 

 immigrated after the glacial period, across the 

 sea, and from the nearest countries, lying east, 

 especially Great Britain." 



The third volume, which closes the series, 

 contains more general papers, the first by F. 

 Borgesen being a most interesting ecological 

 study of the marine algae, while those that 

 follow include " additions and corrections " to 

 previous lists of plants, popular plant names, 

 land vegetation, gardening and tree planting. 



agriculture, etc. A ten-page paper by Pro- 

 fessor Warming — " Field-notes on the Biology 

 of Some of the Flowers of the Faeroes " — is 

 full of suggestive observations. In an ap- 

 pendix of twenty-eight pages F. Borgesen and 

 H. Jonsson present a paper on the Distribu- 

 tions of the Marine Algae of the Arctic Sea 

 and of the Northernmost Part of the Atlantic 

 for the purpose of comparing the Faeroese 

 Algae with that of other portions of the neigh- 

 boring seas. 



Throughout the work the reproductions of 

 photographs, especially of marine algae, are 

 most excellent and some are really quite 

 remarkable. 



THE GRASSES OF CUBA 



In a recent " Contribution " from the 

 United States National Herbarium (Vol. 

 XII., part 6) Professor A. S. Hitchcock pub- 

 lishes a " Catalogue of the Grasses of Cuba " 

 which is " based primarily upon the collections 

 at the Estacion Central Agronomica de Cuba." 

 Here are deposited C. F. Baker's collections, 

 and the Sauvalle Herbarium. In addition to 

 these Professor Hitchcock has had for study 

 many Cuban collections in the National Her- 

 barium, the collections by Charles Wright (in 

 the Gray Herbarium), and those in the her- 

 barium of the New York Botanical Garden. 

 As a result of his careful studies he is able 

 to enumerate more than two hundred species 

 (228), while Grisebach included 154 and Sau- 

 valle 170. 



In the catalogue, in which the only descrip- 

 tions are to be found in the analytical keys, 

 ten tribes are represented and these include 

 sixty-six genera. The northern botanist misses 

 the AveneaBj Hordeae and Phalarideae, which 

 appear to have no Cuban representatives. 

 More than three fourths of the species are 

 found in the genera of the series Panicaceae, 

 and considerably more than one haK (135) 

 are in the tribe Paniceae. The largest genus 

 (Panicum) contains more than a fifth of all 

 the species. Of Bambuseae there are seven 

 species, all of the genus Arthrostylidium. 



As evidence of the commendable conserva- 

 tism of the author may be cited the fact that 

 he has found it necessary to found but one 



