DlXEMBER 30, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



917 



Jonathan Dwight, Jk. : ' Wear in its Relation 

 to Subspecies.' 



Wm. E. Lord : ' The Psychological Conditions of 

 Bird Study.' 



E. H. FoEBUSH : ' Some Disappearing Birds and 

 Suggestions for their Protection.' 



Fbank M. Chapman : ' Florida Notes.' Illus- 

 trated by lantern slides. 



Wm. L. Finley : ' The Land Birds of Oregon 

 and California.' Illustrated by lantern slides. 



C. F. Hodge : ' Experiments in Rearing Ruffed 

 Grouse in Confinement.' Illustrated by lantern 

 slides. 



Horace G. Smith : ' Gyanooitta cristata, and 

 other Eastern Birds, at Wray, Yuma County, Col- 

 orado.' 



A. H. Clark : ' The Birds of the Southern West 

 Indies.' 



B. S. BowDiSH: 'Ornithology of a Churchyard.' 

 Frank M. Chapman : ' The Nesting Habits of 



the Flamingo.' Illustrated by lantern slides. 



Wm. L. Finley : ' The Sea-Birds of the Oregon 

 Coa.st.' Illustrated by lantern slides. 



H. W. Gleason : ' Illustrated Readings from 

 Thoreau's .Journals.' 



Wm. Dutcher: 'Report of the Chairman of the 

 Committee on the Protection of North American 

 Birds.' 



Robert H. Wolcott: 'Observations on the 

 Birds of the Sand-hill Region of Nebraska.' Il- 

 lustrated by lantern slides. 



Herbert K. Job : ' The Season's Experiences 

 with Shore-birds, Herons and Water-fowl.' Illus- 

 trated by lantern slides. 



The next annual meeting will be held in 

 New York City, in November, 1905. 

 John H. Sage, 



Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Jurassic Flora. By A. C. Seward, F.R.S. 

 Part I., The Yorkshire Coast, London, 1900. 

 Part II., Liassic and Oolitic Floras of Eng- 

 land (Excluding the Inferior Oolite Plants 

 of the Yorhshire Coast), London, 1904. 

 Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants in the De- 

 partment of Geology, British Museum (Nat- 

 ural History). Parts III., IV. 

 The first two parts of this important cata- 

 logue were reviewed at considerable length in 

 Science of June 12, 1896 (N. S., Vol. III., 

 pp. 869-8Y6). These relate to the Wealden 



flora, and their great value to science was fully 

 set forth. The third .part, dealing with the 

 Jurassic flora of Yorkshire, appeared in 1900, 

 and now the fourth part, embracing the re- 

 mainder of the Jurassic material in the Brit- 

 ish Museum is out, and these two parts may 

 be conveniently treated in a second review, as 

 were the first two in the previous one. 



The Jurassic flora of Yorkshire is one of 

 the oldest and best known fossil floras of the 

 globe. It was to it that "Williamson flrst gave 

 his attention more than seventy years ago. 

 His first contribution to science consisted in 

 ' an excellent drawing and description ' of the 

 plant first called Gyclopieris Beanii, since re- 

 ferred to Otozamites, collected by his father 

 at Gristhorp Bay. He sent the drawing and 

 description to Messrs. Lindley and Hutton, 

 who were then at work on their ' Fossil Flora 

 of Great Britain,' and they were embodied 

 with commendation in the second fascicle of 

 that work (pp. 127-129, pi. xliv.), which bears 

 date 1833. Between thirty and forty species 

 from the Oolite of Yorkshire are published in 

 that work, most of which were contributed by 

 Williamson. Earlier work in this line had 

 been done by Young and Bird (1822, 1828), 

 by Brongniart (1828) on material sent to him, 

 and especially by Phillips (1829). Of course, 

 only a small part of this rich material is in 

 the British Museum, but Mr. Seward visited 

 many other museums where it is deposited 

 and he reviews the literature of the whole 

 subject. Indeed, as is his custom in these 

 catalogues, he goes over the whole ground not 

 only of the Jurassic flora of Yorkshire, but of 

 that of other parts of Britain and, in a com- 

 parative way, of other countries, especially 

 the continent of Europe, but also of Asia 

 (Siberia, Persia, China, Japan, India), of 

 North America and of Australia, even men- 

 tioning discoveries in Franz Josef Land and 

 in Argentina. This preliminary correlation 

 of the data of the whole world is an important 

 feature of these catalogues and greatly in- 

 creases their value. This value is still further 

 enhanced by his critical analysis of the species, 

 in which his latest decisions as to their affini- 

 ties, and what he considers to be their proper 

 designations, are given. 



