July 25, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



129 



of the cold fact that the exceptional cases are 

 absolutely not to be tolerated. 



" I would not have a single person," says Mr. 

 Smith, "miss the great fun and superior ad- 

 vantage of camping out during the tour of the 

 park because of the fear of the bears." Mr. 

 Smith is pedantic in his choice of words. It 

 is purely a question of vermin. And Mr. 

 Smith, who boldly routs marauding bear with 

 Eoman candles, perhaps, if properly armed, he 

 would not be afraid even of a bed bug. 



W. S. Franklin 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United 

 States, Canada and the British Possessions 

 from Newfoundland to the parallel of the 

 southern Boundary of Virginia, and from 

 the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d 

 Meridian. By Nathaniel Lord Britton, 

 Ph.D., Sc.D., LL.D., Director-in-Chief of 

 the New York Botanical Garden, Professor 

 in Columbia University, and Hon. Addison 

 Brown, A.B., LL.D., President of the 

 New York Botanical Garden. The descrip- 

 tive text chiefly prepared by Professor 

 Britton, with the assistance of specialists 

 in several groups; the figures also drawn 

 under his supervision. Second edition, re- 

 vised and enlarged. In three volumes : Vol. 

 I., Ophioglossaceae to Polygonaceae, Ferns 

 to Buckwheat (pp. xxix -|- 680) ; Vol. II., 

 Amaranthaceae to Loganiaceae, Amaranth 

 to Polypremum (pp. iv + 7-35) ; Vol. III., 

 Gentianaceae to Compositae, Gentian to 

 Thistle (pp. iv -1-637). Octavo. New York, 

 Charles^Scribner's Sons. 1913. 

 Nearly seventeen years ago the writer of 

 'this review had the pleasure of making a no- 

 tice' of the first volume of " a new manual of 

 systematic botany," the same being the first 

 edition of the book now before us. Two 

 sentences in that review may be reproduced 

 here. 



It is in every way a new work — new in its plan, 

 ■new in its descriptions, new in its illustrations. 

 ■-, . . It will give renewed life and vigor to sys- 

 \Am. Nat., October, 1896: 



tematic botany, and doubtless will be the means 

 by which many a student will be led to the study 

 of the more difficult families. 



Less than two years later in a notice of the 

 third volume^ the writer commented upon the 

 " Rochester nomenclature " of the work, and 

 said: 



It is inevitable that one result of its publica- 

 tion [" Illustrated Flora "] will be that the 

 number of those actively opposing these modern 

 features will rapidly grow less. It will soon be 

 much easier to follow the modern innovations 

 along the plain highway here made than to con- 

 tinue in the less and less frequented paths of the 

 conservatives. 



These prophecies have long since come to 

 pass, and their quotation now enables us to see 

 how far we have traveled since they were 

 written. When the original volumes were 

 written they seemed very radical, and almost 

 revolutionary, but now as one runs them over 

 they have lost their radicalness, and do not 

 appear at all revolutionary. In their latest 

 version, in this second edition, even the con- 

 servative reader finds little that will shock 

 him. In these years we have moved very far 

 in our notions as to systematic botany, and 

 the " Illustrated Flora " has been a potent 

 force in bringing about this change. The au- 

 thors are to be congratulated for the part they 

 have played in this revolution in systematic 

 botany. 



Comparing the present edition with the first 

 we find that the whole number of species has 

 risen from 4,162 to 4,666, while the genera 

 have increased from 1,103 to 1,229, and the 

 families from 1Y7 to 194. Of the grasses 

 (Oramineae) the first edition contained 371 

 species, while in the second there are 466. So 

 the species of Oarex are increased from 205 to 

 242. The Compositae, in the wider sense (in- 

 cluding also Cichoriaceae and Amhrosiaceae) 

 are increased from 569 to 625. 



The treatment of Crataegus in the two edi- 

 tions may well be contrasted. In the first edi- 

 tion 15 species are recognized as occurring 

 within the range covered by the " Flora," and 

 the remark is made that " four or five others 

 ; 'Science, August 12, 1898. 



