August 31, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



283 



to this species. The more important are the 

 minute pair of median incisors having a 

 rounded enameled crown, seldom showing any 

 wear, and the very heavy and outwardly flexed 

 angle of the lower jaw. A lower jaw from 

 the Protoceras beds, which Professor Osbom 

 figured,* suggests this very heavy angle, and 

 it would be interesting should we be able to 

 trace the present species to Aceratheri'um 

 mitis. 



MEASUREMENTS . 



Greatest length of skull 350 



Length from occipital condyle to and inclu- 

 ding P= 307 



Length from occipital condyle to M' 150 



Greatest transverse diameter of skull 215 



Greatest transverse diameter of brain case . . 107 



Greatest transverse diameter of f rontals .... 140 

 Transverse diameter of nasals back of horn 



cores 65 



Transverse diameter of nasals at the kom 



cores 70 



Transverse diameter of palate at M' 55 



Vertical diameter of the orbit 30 



Antero-posterior diameter of premolars two, 



three and four 68 



Antero-posterior diameter of the molar aeries 90 



Antero-posterior diameter of P- 22 



Transverse diameter of P^ 23 



Antero-posterior diameter of P* 28 



Transverse diameter of P* 29 



Antero-posterior diameter of ISP ■ 34 



Transverse diameter of M^ 32 



Antero-posterior diameter of M^ '26 



Transverse diameter of M? 32 



O. A. Petebso'n. 



Casnegie Museum, 

 August 15, 1906. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 SOME RECENT BOTAOTCAL BOOKS. 



Several months ago there came from the 

 hand of Professor Coulter another book for 

 the use of pupils in the secondary schools. 

 That it presents the subject with accuracy 

 and good judgment goes without saying, for 

 when a master in a subject writes a text-book 

 this fact alone is a guarantee of its high 

 standing. The present work, which bears the 

 name of 'A Text-book of Botany' (Appleton), 



* Memoirs A. M. N. H., Vol. I., p. 139, 1898. 



is a new edition, or rather a rewi'itten form 

 of the widely used ' Plant Studies,' which in 

 turn was an abridgment and combination of 

 'Plant Eelations' and 'Plant Studies.'* In 

 the preparation of the present book Professor 

 Coulter has made use of the suggestions and 

 criticisms of > many experienced teachers, in 

 ofder to more accurately adjust the presenta- 

 tion of the matter to the conditions found in 

 the secondary schools. The plan of the work 

 can be best told in the author's own words: 



In the first five chapters the structure, function 

 and relationships of the most obvious plant or- 

 gans are considered. The purpose has been to 

 use the most easily observed material to give 

 preliminary training in observation, and some 

 conception of the activities of plants. The fol- 

 lowing thirteen chapters present an outline of 

 the planl kingdom in the simplest possible form 

 to be at all adequate. In these chapters the 

 morphological point of view necessarily domi- 

 nates, but not to the exclusion of the physio- 

 logical and ecological. In this presentation of 

 the great groups, which is also an outline of 

 classification, there have been included special 

 accounts of forms of economic interest; not only 

 because such forms as well as any others may 

 illustrate groups, but chiefly because there is a 

 growing conviction that Botany in the schools 

 must relate pupils to their common experiences, 

 as well as train them in science. For the same 

 general reason the brief chapters on plant-breeding 

 and forestry have been introduced. The four 

 closing chapters include a very brief account of 

 plant associations, the most inclusive view of 

 plants. * * * It can not be repeated too often 

 that this book will not serve its purpose unless 

 it is used as a supplement to the teacher, to the 

 laboratory and to field-work. 



This is certainly an admirable statement of 

 the purpose of botany in secondary instruc- 

 tion. The illustrations are numerous (320) 

 and good, and the text is clearly written. It 

 should prove most useful in the public schools. 



In Margaret S lesson's ' How Ferns Grow ' 

 (Holt) we have quite a different type of book, 

 this being intended for the general reader 

 instead of the public school pupil, and there- 

 fore lacking the pedagogical form of pre- 

 sentation. The book is a popular manual of 

 selected species of the ferns of the eastern 

 United States, illustrated by forty-five plates 



