133 



The preparation of the manuscript of this notable book was 

 the chief labor of Dr. Rydberg during the closing years of his 

 life and was continued by him even during his last illness until 

 a few days before his death. While much of it was then in type, 

 other parts were still in unedited manuscript, and the task of 

 finishing the work then devolved on Dr. M. A. Howe, who toiled 

 unremittingly to complete it. To the hundreds of botanists who 

 knew and loved the kindly author, the book will always stand 

 as a monument to an energetic life wholly devoted to the ad- 

 vancement of botanical science. 



H. A. Gleason 



The cult of the fantastic clan* 



The desert empire of America is no longer the last outpost of 

 greed, gold and desolation. The mystery and terror of it no one 

 can forget who reads Raphael Pumpelly's Reminiscences, or 

 drives across the stark Mojave in the dark. And gold still glis- 

 tens in the pages of J. Frank Dobie's recently issued Coronado's 

 Children. 



But that this desert has a sort of wild beauty, that its plants 

 were of fantastic shapes and still more fantastic habits, is a com- 

 paratively new cult. A few experts, of course, have long known 

 this. The Carnegie Institution at Tucson and Britton and Rose's 

 Cactaceae are the two best evidences of the importance of the 

 study of desert plant problems. But only recently have cacti 

 been anything but wierd desert plants to the general public. 



California seems to have been the first to quicken public in- 

 terest in them. They started in Los Angeles the Cactus and 

 Succulent Society, which already has a large membership and 

 publishes a journal. Last March we reviewed here Shreve's The 

 Cactus and its Home. And two other publishers now came for- 

 ward with two more books on the cacti of the southwest. 



Thornber and Bonker's The Fantastic Clan is the more com- 

 prehensive of two, but the least practical on the score of cultiva- 

 tion. Its botanical accuracy was assured by Dr. Thornber's col- 



* Schulz, E. D. Cactus culture. Pp. 1-157, Figs. 1-28. Orange Judd Co. 

 N. Y. 1932. Price $2.00. 



Thornber, J. J. and Bonker, Frances. The Fantastic Clan: the cactus 

 family. Pp. 1-194, Figs. 1-51 and three colored plates. Macmillan Co. N. Y. 

 1932. Price $3.50. 



