July 20, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



Ill 



library. Some one ought to make the experi- 

 ment of using it as a supplementary reader in 



the high schools. 



Charles E. Bessey. 

 The Univkhsity of Nebraska. 



Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and the Yellow- 

 stone National Park. By per Axel Rydbbrg, 

 Ph.D. New York. 1900. 8vo. Pp. xii+492. 

 This flue volume, which is issued as the first 

 volume of the Blemoirs of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, appeared early in the year, 

 bearing date of. February 15, 1900. It is the 

 result of several seasons of work done in the 

 field by the author as collector for the United 

 States Department of Agriculture and the New 

 York Botanical Garden. When he came to 

 work up these collections he found that the 

 flora of Montana was but little known, and ac- 

 cordingly he availed himself of all the acces- 

 sible material of previous collectors. The final 

 result is a list of 1976 species and varieties of 

 Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta, of which 

 776 are not recorded in Coulter's 'Manual of 

 the Eocky Mountain Region,' and 163 are new 

 to science. 



The treatment of the subject is liberal, and 

 we have here much more than the old-fash- 

 ioned list which has all but disappeared from 

 botanical literature. The nomenclature is 

 modern, of course, and authorities and descrip- 

 tions are so freely cited that no one need have 

 any difficulty in certainly identifying all of the 

 species and varieties included. Habitat and 

 locality notes are given with much fullness, 

 and in nearly every case herbarium specimens 

 are particularly indicated by numbers, the only 

 exception being in those cases where the 

 species had been authoritatively reported in 

 standard works. The selection of type, the 

 size of page, and quality of paper all con- 

 tribute to the finish of the work for which the 

 author supplied so well wrought a text. 



The work includes 42 Pteridophy tae, 21 Gym- 

 nospermae, 423 Monocotyledones, and 1490 

 Dicotyledones. The large families are Poly- 

 podiaceae (22 species), Pinaceae (20), Gramineae 

 (191), Cyperaceae (105), Juncaceae (23), Lili- 

 aceae (28), Orchidaceae (22), Salicaceae (29), 

 Chenopodiaceae (50), Amaranthaceae(27), Alsin- 



aceae (34), Ranunculaceae (71), Crucifereae (76), 

 Saxifragaceae (35), Rosaceae (84), Papilionaceae 

 (122), Ouagraceae (43), Umbellifereae (41), Pri- 

 mulaceae (24),Polemoniaceae (39), Boraginaceae 

 (40), Scrophulariaceae (93), Compositeae, in- 

 cluding Ambrosiaceae and Cichoriaceae (357). 



That much work is yet to be done in this 

 region may be seen from the author's remark 

 in the preface that " the area east of the 108th 

 meridian on the south side of the Missouri 

 River, and of the 112th meridian on the north 

 side is practically unexplored botanically," in 

 fact it appears that it is only the mountain 

 regions that have been fairly well explored. 

 Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



The Agricultural Experiment Stations in the 

 United States. By A. C. True and V. A. 

 Clark. U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Office of Experiment Stations, Bulletin No. 

 80. Pp. 636, pis. 153. 



This book was prepared as a part of the ex- 

 hibit of the American Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations at the Paris Exposition. It is an ex- 

 haustive treatise on the history, work, and 

 present status of the experirnent stations in 

 general and of the fifty-six stations individually, 

 profusely illustrated with half-tones showing 

 the buildings, plats, laboratories, herds, etc., 

 of the different stations. It opens with an ac- 

 count of the general agricultural conditions of 

 the United States as related to the work of the 

 stations, dividing the country into six general 

 regions. The part devoted to the history of 

 the stations includes an account of the early 

 experimental work carried on by the agricul- 

 tural colleges and other institutions prior to the 

 establishment of experiment stations supported 

 by State appropriation. The first of these sta- 

 tions was located at Middletowu, Conn., in 

 1875, and was afterwards removed to New 

 Haven, where it continues in operation. The 

 movement to secure Federal aid for experiment 

 stations, resulting in the passage of the Hatch 

 Act in 1887, and the development of the sta- 

 tions under the Hatch Act are reviewed. There 

 are now fifty -six stations in operation, includ- 

 ing those in Alaska and Hawaii, fifty-two of 

 which receive Federal aid. 



