628 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 463. 



which not all of us will be prepared to follow. 

 Most botanists will approve the generic separa- 

 tion of the deerberries, represented by Vac- 

 cinium stamineum, from the blueberries, rep- 

 resented by the European Vaccinium myrtillus 

 and its several American relatives, and many 

 will prefer to join him in separating Vac- 

 cinium erythrocarpon as a generic type under 

 the name Hugeria, but it is doubtful whether 

 many will be willing to place the white pine 

 in the genus Strobus, distinct from Finns, or 

 the nut pine of Arizona in still another genus, 

 Caryopitys. 



The book is not wholly without evidence of 

 ill-considered conclusions, as may be illus- 

 trated by the genus Bibes. Pursh in 1814 

 described from the garden of Fraser, the Eng- 

 lish nurseryman, a Bibes resinosum which 

 was alleged to have come from the mountains 

 of eastern North America. The plant after- 

 ward was identified by several competent 

 botanists with Bibes orientale, from the moun- 

 tains of Asia Minor, and was accordingly 

 dropped from the American flora. If the 

 author has sufficient evidence to restore the 

 plant to good standing as a native of the 

 Southern United States, he does not adduce 

 it in his book. The name Bibes gracile 

 Michx. has been transferred from the plant 

 with which it has been associated for a gen- 

 eration and applied to a plant to which on 

 geographic grounds it could not possibly have 

 applied, while for the plant we formerly knew 

 as gracilis Nuttall's name missouriense has 

 been taken up. It is more than doubtful 

 whether changes based on such imperfect or 

 incorrect information are advisable. 



Most botanists will be slow in becoming con- 

 vinced that the southern states contain 53 

 species of Sisyrinchium or 185 species of 

 Crataegus, but it must be stated that the mat- 

 ter in both these genera was prepared by 

 special contributors, not by Dr. Small himself. 

 Tlie admirable keys with which the book 

 is equipped throughout, a new feature in 

 Southern floras, will greatly facilitate its use 

 by students. This and the other timely and 

 aiTthoritative qualities of the work so greatly 

 counterbalance any faults that may be charged 

 against it that the book will necessarily take 



its place as the standard work on Southern 

 botany. Frederick V. Coville. 



Ueber die Bedeutung des Darwin'schen Selec- 



tionsprincips und Probleme der Artbildung. 



By Dr. Ludwig Plate. Second edition. 



Leipzig, W. Engelmann. 1903. 8vo. Pp. 



viii + 247. 



The mass of literature which has grown up 

 around the doctrine of natural selection since 

 it was first propounded has reached the pro- 

 portions of a forest, so dense that one may 

 well shrink from the task of penetrating its 

 depths or of keeping pace with its rapid 

 growth. Numerous sturdy trees, well repay- 

 ing a close acquaintance, occur, but they are 

 apt to be hidden from view by the peculiarly 

 dense and luxuriant undergrowth which char- 

 acterizes the forest. 



The importance of the subject is too great, 

 however, to permit its neglect merely on ac- 

 count of difficulties in the way, and the student 

 of the theory of descent will be grateful to Dr. 

 Ludwig Plate for a careful and critical review 

 of the literature bearing on the theory of 

 natural selection, which has appeared during 

 the last twenty years. 



Dr. Plate's essay was first published some 

 four years ago in the ' Verhandlungen der 

 deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft ' and is 

 now republished in a somewhat enlarged form 

 under the title given above. It is a concise yet 

 clear exposition of the arguments that have 

 been advanced in opposition to the theory of 

 natural selection and of the principles which 

 have been suggested as accessories in the trans- 

 mutation of species, and with the exposition 

 there goes keen criticism backed by a wealth 

 of illustration, in itself of the greatest inter- 

 est and evidencing in the author unusual 

 powers of observation and aptness in applica- 

 tion. A further chapter deals with the postu- 

 lates of the doctrine of natural selection, 

 such as an excessive birth rate, variability and 

 isolation, and a concluding one considers the 

 significance and limitations of the Darwinian 

 and Lamarckian factors, especially with re- 

 gard to adaptation. 



That the work is of merit is abundantly 

 shovm by its appearance in a second edition. 



