62 



SCIENCE 



[IS.S. Vol. XXV. No. 628 



marck's doctrine can not possibly be plain to 

 the reader from the author's presentation of it. 

 The book not only lacks evidences of sea- 

 soned thought, but of familiarity with the 

 more recent literature bearing on the discus- 

 sion of heredity, and, on the whole, is a dis- 

 appointing analysis of the subject. Neverthe- 

 less, we believe it will be of service on account 

 of the new point of view adopted and the 

 citing of evidences bearing on heredity fur- 

 nished by disease. Doubtless, this volume 

 will assist materially in getting medical men 

 to pay more attention to the matters discussed 

 in it. If this be the case, the purpose of the 

 book, as stated by the author in his preface 

 •will be justified: "I have addressed the vol- 

 xmie mainly to medical men. The evidence 

 relied on is drawn largely from medical 

 sources; medical men form the largest body 

 of scientific workers; they deal continually 

 with questions of heredity, a knowledge of 

 which is of great importance to them; but in 

 a measure they have neglected the systematic 

 study of the subject. Little or no instruction 

 is given in it to medical students. There 

 does not even exist a test-book to which they 

 may refer. But a knowledge of heredity is 

 becoming essential to the educated doctor. I 

 have sought to supply the want. I hope, how- 

 ever, the professional biologist and the gen- 

 eral reader will not find the work devoid of 

 interest." William A. Locy 



Postelsia, The Year Book of the Minnesota 

 Seaside Station, 1906. St. Paul, Minne- 

 sota. 1906. Pp. 364. Small octavo. 

 Four years ago the first volume of this 

 unique publication was issued, and now we 

 liave a second volume so like the first in paper, 

 print, illustrations and bindings that it seems 

 a fit companion for it upon the shelves of the 

 botanist's library. LU^e its predecessor, the 

 present volume contains seven papers, with a 

 half -page ' Word of Introduction ' from Pro- 

 fessor MacMillan, the director of the Minne- 

 sota Seaside Station. The first paper, ' Ob- 

 servations on Plant Distribution in Renfrew 

 District of Vancouver Island,' by C. O. Eo- 

 sendahl, occupies more than one third of the 

 volume. In it the writer first discusses the 



marine formations, then the formations of the 

 beach, and the formations of the forest coun- 

 try, and follows with an annotated systematic 

 list of the pteridophytes and spermatophytes 

 of the region. His conclusion is " that the 

 flora of Vancouver Island, in so far as it can 

 be judged by observations confined to a lim- 

 ited area of the same, is typically boreal, with 

 an admixture of more arctic forms than the 

 latitude, the elevation above sea-level, and 

 present climatic conditions would indicate." 

 The second paper, by P. K. Butters, on ' The 

 Conifers of Vancouver Island,' describes thir- 

 teen species as occurring spontaneously on the 

 island, viz., Taxus hrevifolia, a shrub or small 

 tree ; Pinus contorta, a small tree ; Pinus mon- 

 ticola, a tree 30 meters or more in height; 

 Picea sitchensis, ' tidel and spruce,' attaining 

 60 meters in height and two meters in diam- 

 eter; Tsuga mertensiana, 'mountain hemlock,' 

 a tree of the alpine regions; Tsuga hetero- 

 phylla, ' western hemlock,' a tree nearly as 

 large as the tidel and spruce; Pseudotsuga 

 taxifolia, ' Douglas fir,' a large tree of ' mag- 

 nificent proportions'; Ahies grandis, 'white 

 fir,' a tall, slender tree; Ahies amabilis, 'white 

 fir,' ' a tall tree with a straight, slender trunk ' ; 

 Thuya plicata, ' cedar,' a large tree, ' not in- 

 frequently five meters in diameter at the 

 base'; Cwpressus noothaiensis, 'yellow cedar,' 

 a tree of moderate size; Juniperus communis 

 sihirica, 'juniper' a dwarf, trailing shrub; 

 Juniperus scopulorum, ' western red cedar,' a 

 small tree. The author thinks it ' probable 

 that further exploration of the higher moun- 

 tains of the interior will reveal from one to 

 three other species of the Ahietineae.' In the 

 third paper, A. W. Evans makes an annotated 

 list of 71 species of Hepaticae collected prin- 

 cipally by members of the Seaside Laboratory. 

 ' Some Western Helvellineae ' is the fourth 

 paper by D. S. Hone. It is followed by a 

 paper by R. F. Griggs describing a new genus 

 of kelps, Benfrewia, related to Laminaria and 

 Cymatliere, from the Vancouver coast near 

 the Seaside Laboratory. But one species, B. 

 parvula, has been discovered. Isabel Henkel's 

 ' Study of Tide-pools,' and Professor 0. W. 

 Hall's ' Geological Features of the Minnesota 

 Seaside Station' are interesting geological 



