Jantjaey 23, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



157 



any, and the study might have much greater 

 value to medical and pharmacal students. 



AMATEUR SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



A FEW days ago there came into the writer's 

 * hands a pretty little book, ' Fieldbook of 

 American Wild Flowers,' by F. S. Mathews 

 (Putnam's Sons), which is so suggestive and 

 helpful as to appear worthy of some notice 

 here. Its title is misleading, since the book 

 is by no means ' American ' in its scope, its 

 range being confined to what we are calling 

 'northeast North America,' that is, practi- 

 cally the region covered by Gray's ' Manual.' 

 This should be corrected in subsequent edi- 

 tions, or we may have anxious amateurs in 

 Georgia, Texas, Wyoming, Montana and 

 Arizona trying to fi.t western plants to east- 

 ern names and descriptions. It is not right 

 that the title should be so much larger than 

 the work itself. It is a fieldbook for a re- 

 stricted portion of the country, and this should 

 be clearly stated. 



The book includes species of seventy-two 

 families of flowering plants, the word ' flower- 

 ing ' being interpreted popularly, so that 

 grasses, sedges, willows, oaks, elms, etc., are 

 omitted as not having showy flowers. The 

 arrangement of the families is that of Engler 

 and Prantl. The species are described quite 

 non-technically, and this work is so well done 

 that the book should enable any one to identify 

 every plant included in its pages. The many 

 excellent plates, many of which are colored, 

 will greatly help the beginner. The book is 

 worthy of many editions, and no doubt will 

 stimulate many a person to know more about 

 the common wild flowers. 



Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



RECENT ZOOPALEONTOLOGY. 



THE cope PAMPEAN COLLECTION. 



This collection, representing the Pleisto- 

 cene fauna of South America, includes three 

 series of specimens, brought together by 

 Ameghino, Larroque and Brachet, and sent 

 by the Argentine Eepublic to the Paris Ex- 

 position of 1878. Professor Cope was so 



captivated by this collection that he pur- 

 chased it outright, and brought it to this 

 country. For more than twenty years it re- 

 mained packed away out of sight in the cellar 

 of Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, Phila- 

 delphia. The American Museum of Natural 

 History has acquired the collection from the 

 executor of the Cope estate through funds 

 subscribed by six of its trustees, Messrs. H. 

 0. Havemeyer, William E. Dodge, D. Willis 

 James, Adrian Iselin, Henry F. Osborn and 

 the late James M. Constable. 



It includes a very fuU representation of 

 the Pleistocene fauna of South America, 

 among which are a considerable number of 

 type and figured specimens, all, with one ex- 

 ception, described or figured by Florentino 

 Ameghino. The gem of the collection, now 

 being mounted for immediate exhibition, is 

 the skeleton of a very large specimen of the 

 saber-toothed tiger belonging to the genus 

 Smilodon; it lacks only the fore feet, which 

 have been supplied from casts taken from 

 the skeleton in the Museum of Buenos Aires. 



The following specimens are especially note- 

 worthy. Among the smaller Carnivora the 

 type skeleton of Conepaius mercedensis, finely 

 preserved, consisting of skull, jaws, limbs and 

 about half the vertebrae. Among the rodents 

 is Lagostomus, including various skulls and 

 skeletons, which may be combined for a com- 

 plete mount. The Litopterna are repre- 

 sented by the jaws and upper teeth of Mo/- 

 crauchenia. Of the Toxodonts, there are a 

 skull and jaws, and separate limb and foot 

 bones. The Proboscidea are represented by 

 the fore and hind limbs and tusk of the Pam- 

 pean mastodon. Among the Edentates are the 

 following: Armadillos — Eutatiis hrevis, type 

 skeleton in fair condition; Dasypus, skuU, 

 jaws, and a third of the carapace and skeleton ; 

 Glyptodonts — PanocMhus frenzelianus, type 

 skeleton lacking the vertebrae and teeth, but in- 

 cluding the carapace casque; the skull, jaws, 

 casque and carapace of two other specimens of 

 PanocMhus; skull, jaws and limbs of other 

 specimens; Dmdicurus, carapace; Moplopliorus, 

 a fairly complete skeleton, except some vertebrae, 

 with carapace, casque and tail-shield included. 

 Among the ground-sloths there is a nearly 



