Mat 8, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



755 



PHILIPPINE TIMBERS 



Not long since a notice was made in Sci- 

 ence (Marcli 13, 1908) of F. W. Foxworthy's 

 paper on Philippine Woods published in the 

 Philippine Journal of Science. Now we have 

 another paper on the same subject published 

 as Bulletin No. 7 by the Bureau of Forestry 

 of the islands, and entitled " A Preliminary 

 Check-list of the Principal Commercial 

 Timbers of the Philippine Islands" prepared 

 by Dr. H. N. Whitford, the chief of the 

 Division of Forest Investigation. This list 

 differs from the former in giving more atten- 

 tion to the systematic arrangement of the 

 species and their distribution as indicated by 

 actual specimens in the herbarium of the 

 Bureau of Science in Manila, while it gives 

 much less attention to the structural and 

 physical properties, and uses of their wood. 

 The purpose of the list is to show what is 

 actually known as to the timber trees of the 

 islands, so that additions and corrections may 

 be made more easily. As in the former list 

 the common names used in different parts of 

 the archipelago are recorded, and one of these 

 is selected for each species as the one most 

 widely used, and therefore the approved name 

 for general use. 



The twenty-six families which are repre- 

 sented by somewhat more than eighty species 

 are arranged according to Engler and 

 Prantl's system in the Natiirlichen Pflanzen- 

 familien. The families Leguminosae, Dipter- 

 ocarpaceae, Combretaceae and Sapotaceae con- 

 tain the larger numbers of species; in fact 

 these four families include nearly one half 

 of the known species. There is but one 

 species of Pinaceae, viz. : Pinus insularis. A 

 good index completes the pamphlet. 



ANOTHER TREE BOOK 



The Philadelphia publishing house of Lip- 

 pincott Company has just brought out a book 

 which must prove very useful for students 

 and tree-lovers everywhere. It bears the title 

 of " Our Trees : How to know Them," and is 

 the joint work of Arthur I. Emerson and Dr. 

 Clarence M. Weed. The book consists of 

 large photographs which have been very well 

 reproduced in the full-page plates, and in each 



case a page of non-technical text. Each 

 photographic plate includes the flowers, fruits, 

 twigs and leaves on a larger scale, and at the 

 side a view of the tree on a much smaller scale. 

 The text includes a popular but accurate de- 

 scription of the tree, its bark, foliage, fruit 

 and something of its uses. Its range of 

 natural distribution is usually given, and in 

 some cases suggestions are made as to its 

 ornamental value. In the sequence of fami- 

 lies and the generic and specific nomenclature 

 the authors follow Sargent's " Manual of the 

 Trees of North America." The book must 

 prove to be a valuable addition to the library 

 of every man who is interested in trees. 



A SECOND ORCHID BOOK 



Three years ago the present writer had the 

 pleasure of reviewing favorably in this journal 

 (Science, May 19, 1905) the first volume of 

 Oakes Ames's " Orchidaceae," and now the 

 second volume, which has just been received, 

 calls for a notice. This one opens with a five- 

 page introduction in which the author dis- 

 cusses the part of Engler's " Das Pflanzen- 

 reich," which deals with Orchidaceae, pro- 

 testing vigorously against the treatment which 

 his writings and drawings received at the 

 hands of the editors of that work. Then 

 follow half a dozen short articles before reach- 

 ing the principal paper of the volume, 

 " Studies in the Orchid Flora of the Philip- 

 pines," covering 242 pages. Following this 

 are fifteen pages devoted to new species and 

 names of American orchids, and the volume 

 closes with a generic and specific index to 

 volumes I., and II. Nine full-page plates and 

 many text illustrations, all very good and 

 satisfactory, are scattered through the book. 

 As in the preceding volume, all original de- 

 scriptions (and many others) of species are 

 in Latin, as is quite proper in a work of 

 this kind, although the general discussions as 

 well as the keys are in English. In many 

 cases the Latin description is followed by an 

 English translation. The paper used in the 

 book is of fine quality, and the typography 

 and presswork of the best. The author is to 

 be congratulated upon bringing out a second 

 volume so soon after the first, and it is to be 



