220 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1157 



(Page 136) " All known Devonian verte- 

 brates were aquatic." 



(Page 321) " During the Pliocene and 

 Quaternary, Equus, or the modern Horse, has 

 one toe only on front and hind feet with the 

 two side toes of Protohippus reduced to 

 splints (the fetlock of the present day Horse) ." 



(Page 305) " In this vastly expanded inte- 

 rior sea true marine deposition took place, 

 the most characteristic formation being a 

 ITummulitic limestone, so called because it is 

 chiefly made up of shells of a certain species 

 (Nummuliies) of unusually large Foramini- 

 fers. Perhaps no other single formation in 

 the crust of the earth built up essentially of 

 the remains of but one species of organism is 

 so widespread and thick, its thickness at times 

 reaching several thousand feet." 



(Page 334) " At no time did the Labradorian 

 ice sheet spread enough eastward or the Kewa- 

 tin sheet far enough westward, to cover this 

 driftless area." 



Typographical errors in this book are rare. 

 We now recall having noted but two, one in 

 the caption of page 193, the other in the 

 spelling of the specific name chociavensis, 

 page 315. 



The illustrations upon the whole are good. 

 The printing of whole-page half-tone engrav- 

 ings on the class of paper used in the text 

 (though very good) is scarcely to be recom- 

 mended, as the plate on 129 clearly shows. 

 The routing on the line engraving, Fig. 69, 

 page 126, was carelessly done. Slight stains, 

 perhaps from the paste used in securing the 

 illustrations appear about their borders, in 

 Fig. 52, page 95. 



The printing is of uniformly good grade, 

 the body type approaching very closely the 10- 

 point modem Lining Roman iNo. 510 opened 

 up by two point leading, giving always a clear, 

 pleasing appearance. The paper, very slightly 

 reddish tinted, is about 70 lb. book, scarcely 

 shiny, but sufficiently calendered to take small 

 half-tone engravings to advantage. 



To sum up: Professor Miller has carefully 

 compiled from recognized authorities facts 

 and figures illustrative of historical geology 

 as now generally understood. He is no icon- 



oclast. He has apparently felt the need of a 

 systematic tabulation of topics, serving as a 

 ground-work for a series of lectures in historic 

 geology. This with minor expansions and 

 articulations forms the text-book before us. 

 What were his needs are likewise the needs 

 of other teachers of the same subject; and, 

 since he has done his work well and his pub- 

 lishers have cooperated with good judgment 

 and artistic ability, there would seem to be no 

 reason why the book should not meet with 

 deserved success. 



G. D. Harris 

 Paleontologicai Laboeatoet, 

 Cornell Univebsitt 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



BOILING BUFFALO CLOVER SEED 



The discovery that the process of boiling the 

 seed of spotted bur clover {Medicago arabica) 

 one minute insures good germination has re- 

 sulted in the adoption of the practise by the 

 farmers of the south. The kindred discovery 

 recently made by the writer that the seed of 

 buffalo clover {Trifolium reflexum) can be 

 readily germinated in the same manner, opens 

 the way for experiment station men to inves- 

 tigate the economic merits of this little-known 

 clover. Experiments heretofore attempted 

 have been nipped in the bud, as far as is 

 known, by failure to obtain a stand. With the 

 practise of soaking and boiling, however, 

 stands can be obtained and the merits and de- 

 merits of this legume can be found out. 



In 1914, after successfully germinating 

 spotted bur clover seed by the boiling process, 

 the same method was tried by the writer on red 

 clover, white clover, sweet clover and alfalfa, 

 but with negative results. A single experi- 

 ment with bufialo clover at that time in- 

 creased the germination from four to thirty 

 per cent, by boiling one minute, but this was 

 considered too small a per cent, and the matter 

 was dropped. Recently, however, the experi- 

 ment was tried again in a slightly modified 

 form and with excellent results. 



The details of the experiment were as 

 follows : 



