574 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 94. 



At various places around the room are basaltic 

 columns, fossil tree trunks, large rock speci- 

 mens, etc. 



Besides tlie mineralogical and geological 

 specimens, there is a collection of 1550 recent 

 mollusks, a botanical collection, large mahogany 

 and tulip tree sections, charts showing Japanese 

 drawings of fishes, a Japanese spider crab 

 (Macrocheirus Camperi), which measures 11 feet 

 6 inches, skeleton of a Right Whale, caught in 

 the Earitan, large antlers, etc. 



Prof. A. H. Chester, curator of the museum, 

 has his fine collection of over 4000 mineral 

 specimens, in cases, in one of the class rooms. 



All of the collections are being relabeled and 

 classified, and all but three cases are finished. 



Accessions are constantly being made by pur- 

 chase, exchange and gift. The museum is free 

 to all students or visitors every week day from 

 S to 12 a. m. and 1 to 5 p. m. A collector and 

 student of forty years' experience is constantly 

 in attendance, to show and to answer any ques- 

 tions pertaining to the collections. 



W. S. Valiant, 

 EuTGEEs College Museum. Assistant Curator. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, 

 Canada and the British Possessions from New- 

 foundland to the parallel of the southern boun- 

 dary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean 

 westward to the 102d meridian. By Na- 

 thaniel Lord Britton, Ph. D., and Hon. 

 Addison Brown. In three vols. I., Ophio- 

 glossacese to Aizoacese. New York, Charles 

 Scribner's Sons. 1896. 



This, the first volume of Dr. N. L. Britton' s 

 magnificent descriptive flora, establishes a new 

 level for plant-taxonomic publications in Amer- 

 ica. It emphasizes the passing of the old regime 

 and introduces, in most fitting style, the new 

 ideas in book-making, in description, in arrange- 

 ment and in nomenclature. Wisely published 

 at a price that places it within the reach of all 

 and certainly to be completed within a few 

 months, it must become at once the standard 

 for the region which it covers. There is no 

 work extant in the whole series of American 

 botanical publications which deal with descrip- 

 tions of the flowering plants that can for a mo- 



ment be compared with it either for a skilful 

 and delightful presentation of the subject-mat- 

 ter or for modern, scientific and accurate mas- 

 tery of the thousand- fold mass of detail of which 

 such a work must necessarily consist. Such a 

 volume marks the existence of a world's botani- 

 cal center at New York City not to be unfavor- 

 ably compared with any other anywhere. The 

 publication of such a work is a proper occasion 

 not only for personal and institutional, but also 

 for national congratulations. 



Dr. N. L. Britton, assisted (especially on the 

 financial side) by Hon. Addison Brown, has in 

 this first volume described and figured 1,425 

 species of plants under 332 genera. This num- 

 ber includes 109 species of ferns and fern-allies, 

 25 species of conifers and 1,011 species of mono- 

 cotyledons, the remainder being dicotyledonous 

 plants in the families from Saururacese to, 

 Aizoacese inclusive. The descriptions of Pteri- 

 dophyta are by Professor Lucien M. Under- 

 wood, of Juncacese by Mr. F. Y. Coville, of 

 PolygonaceiB and Euphorbiacese by Dr. John 

 K. Small, of Graminaceae by Mr. G. V. Nash, 

 of Lemnacese by Mr. E. P. Sheldon, while the 

 text of Typhacese, Sparganiacese, Naiadacese, 

 Scheuchzeriacese, Aracese, Eriocaulacese, Ponte- 

 deriacese, Smilacese and Orchidacese, ' was pre- 

 pared by the late Rev. Thomas Morong and 

 printed with very little change from his manu- 

 script.' Notwithstanding the element of col- 

 laboration which has entered into the production 

 of this illustrated flora, there has, by careful 

 editorial supervision, been maintained a won- 

 derfully regular, direct and transparent style of 

 description, so that the form under which one 

 species is described will mutatis mutandis suffice 

 for any other species. The appropriate sequen- 

 ces are observed and for each species there are 

 given in order the Latin name, the English 

 name, the synonym and citation of original pub- 

 lication, the description of the plant as a whole, 

 of the vegetative tract, of the inflorescence, 

 flowers and fruit, closing with the habitat fol- 

 lowed by the range and time of blooming. 

 These compact and masterly descriptions are in 

 pleasing contrast to the rambling unsystematic 

 accounts which are too often put forward in- 

 stead of descriptions by taxonomists who lack 

 the highest gifts of insight or expression. 



