NOVEMBEE 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



669 



fellow-workers and produced a work which 

 will always remain the standard source of in- 

 formation on the subject of which it treats — ■ 

 the birds of the coast region of South Caro- 

 lina, their relative abundance and manner of 

 occurrence at the date of its publication. 



J. A. A. 



BOTANICAL NOTES 

 BOOKS ON MOSSES 



Ten years ago Dr. A. J. Grout brought out 

 a little book with the title " Mosses with a 

 Hand Lens," which was intended to " give by 

 drawings and descriptions the information 

 necessary to enable any one' interested to be- 

 come acquainted with the more common 

 mosses with the least possible outlay of time, 

 patience and money." 



Five years later, encouraged by the recep- 

 tion accorded his venture the author brought 

 out a second, greatly enlarged edition, in 

 which he included the liverworts also. That 

 these little books have been most useful needs 

 no proof here. They have made it possible for 

 many a student to study mosses in field and 

 forest as he studied ferns and flowering plants. 

 Some one should give us similar books on the 

 fungi (and lichens) and the freshwater alg£e, 

 and for seaside dwellers the seaweeds might 

 well receive a similar treatment. 



In the optimistic mood which the success 

 of his little moss book induced. Dr. Grout 

 projected a larger work which he began pub- 

 lishing in German fashion in successive 

 " parts," under the title " Mosses with Hand 

 Lens and Microscope." The first of these 

 parts appeared in 1903; the second in 1904, 

 the third in 1906, the fourth in 1908, and the 

 fifth (concluding) in 1910. We have now the 

 complete work, making a large octavo volume 

 of 416 pages, including 89 full-page plates, 

 and 220 text figures. Many of these are from 

 Bryologia Europaea, and Sullivan t's I cones 

 Muscorum. There is no attempt to include 

 all the mosses of the region (northeastern 

 United States) but the author has made a 

 judicious selection, for which his long ex- 

 perience as a teacher as well as a bryologist 

 has well fitted him. The keys to the genera 



and species, together with the carefully drawn 

 descriptions, make it rather easy for the pupil 

 to find the name of any ordinary moss. 



The book closes with a key to sterile speci- 

 mens, and a good index. A good glossary (il- 

 lustrated) is given in the introductory part of 

 the work (pp. 3Y-44). 



The author is to be congratulated upon the 

 completion of this notable book, and students 

 of the mosses will be glad to know that he 

 offers it now as a bound book. (New Brigh- 

 ton, N. T.) 



THE GRAY CENTENARY 



The Botanical Seminar of the University 

 of Nebraska will celebrate the one hundredth 

 anniversary of the birth of Dr. Asa Gray on 

 Friday, November 18, 1910. At a general con- 

 vocation to be held at eight o'clock in the 

 evening of the above day in the botanical lec- 

 ture room in Nebraska Hall, the following 

 papers will be read: 



■' Gray's Writings to be found in the Botanical 

 Library," Professor E. R. Walker. 



" Gray's Manuals and Floras," Professor G. H. 

 Coons. 



" Gray's Text-books," Professor R. J. Pool. 



7 Gray's Influence as a Teacher," Professor E. 

 il. Wilcox. 



" Reminiscences and Letters," Professor C. E. 



The above papers will be assembled by the 

 '' Lord Warden " and printed as a publication 

 of the seminar. 



^ THE NUMBER OF KNOWN SPECIES OF PLANTS 



Ln some work upon which I have been en- 

 gaged recently it became necessary to bring 

 together in compact form what is knovra as to 

 the number of kinds (species) of plants with 

 which botanists have enough acquaintance to 

 permit of their systematic arrangement and 

 enumeration. The result is that roughly 

 speaking we may say that there are now known 

 about 210,000 species, distributed as follows : 



!Myxophyceae (Blue Greens) 2,020 



Protophyceae (Simple Algae) 1,100 



Zygophyceae (Conjugate Algae) .... 7,000 



Siphonopliyccae (Tube Algae) ^1,100 



Phaeophyceae (Brown Algae) 1,030 



