Decbmbeb 16, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



867 



new edition of the old dictionary, but did not 

 write those in the supplement. 



E. E. B. McKenney 

 U. S. Department of Agbioultube, 

 Washington, D. C. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Dioptrographic Tracings in Four Normw of 



Fifty-two Tasmanian Crania. Transactions 



of the Royal Society, Victoria. Vol. V. 



(Part I.) 1909. By Eichard J. A. Berry 



and A. W. D. Eobertson. Pp. 1-11 notes, 



211 plates. 



The volume at hand is an exceptional pub- 

 lication, but perhaps justified under the cir- 

 cumstances. It consists of a large series of 

 plates with well executed dioptrographic draw- 

 ings of 52 Tasmanian crania, without meas- 

 urements and with none or but the scantiest 

 descriptive notes. Forty-one of these crania 

 are new to science, having been discovered in 

 private collections or excavated by the au- 

 thors. As the total number of Tasmanian 

 crania known before amounted to only 79, the 

 new material can well be regarded as a pre- 

 cious addition. But the very value of it aug- 

 ments the wish for a thorough report. The 

 plates will be useful and both the authors, as 

 well as the Eoyal Society of Victoria, have 

 earned the thanks of anthropologists for their 

 publication, but they are by no means suffi- 

 cient. Measurements on drawings or photo- 

 graphs, even though these be of " natural 

 size," can never be taken with accuracy and 

 be used with the confidence of those secured 

 by accurate instruments and according to the 

 standard methods on the specimen itself. 

 Besides that, numerous measurements of im- 

 portance, such as the surface arcs and the 

 circumference, can not be even approximated 

 on illustrations. 



But it is specially the lack of descriptive 

 notes which will be felt. The illustrations of 

 Skull Xo. 9 may be cited as an example. In 

 9B, frontal view, and 9D, back view, there is 

 visible a depression over the upper portion of 

 the parietals. Such a feature may be due to 

 the pronounced elevation of the sagittal re- 

 gion, but it may also be due to senile changes. 



In the absence of description one is left in un- 

 certainty. The sutures on the specimen are 

 represented as if free from obliteration, but 

 they are thus shown on practically every skull 

 in the series, and yet some of the jaws indi- 

 cate an age where more or less obliteration 

 could be expected. The illustrations of the 

 teeth, as general in drawings of this nature, 

 are entirely unsuitable for study. The posi- 

 tion of the dacryons does not seem in all the 

 cases to be accurate — for instance in plates 

 12B, 15B, 21B and 23B. In a number of the 

 cases, such as 36C, one would like to know 

 more than the pictures show as to the char- 

 acteristics of the supraorbital ridges or arch. 

 The inion point is difficult to determine with 

 accuracy, it differs in position, and it does not 

 generally represent the posterior terminus of 

 the maximum glabello-occipital diameter, 

 hence the prominent part given to it is scarcely 

 deserved; etc. 



It is to be hoped that the authors will fur- 

 nish in time a good descriptive account of the 

 valuable specimens in their hands and in their 

 reach. Ales Hrdlicka 



The Plant Life of Maryland. By Forrest 

 Shreve, M. a. Chrysler, Frederick H. 

 Blodgett and F. M. Besley. Maryland 

 Weather Service, Volume III. Pp. 533, pis. 

 39. Baltimore, 1910. 



This report on the plant life of Maryland 

 is a valuable contribution to plant geography 

 and ecology. The introduction by Shreve de- 

 scribes the general geography of the state 

 together with a discussion of its climate and 

 physiography, while he gives a statement of 

 the purposes of the work from the botanic 

 standpoint. Dr. Shreve in Part II. gives in 

 detail the general results of the survey of the 

 state, as to its floristic plant geography, 

 while in Part IH., the ecologic plant geog- 

 raphy is discussed from the regional aspect. 

 The vegetation of the coastal zone, eastern 

 shore district, is given by Shreve, that 

 of the western shore district by Chrysler, 

 while Blodgett has written the section on 

 the upper midland district of the state, 

 followed by a description of the mountain 

 zone by Dr. Shreve. Not the least valuable 



