43 



plants. Flowers and fruits are assigned a secondary place. Part 

 II is devoted to the "General Opening Key" and the "Keys to 

 the Genera," with instructions as to their use. In Part III are 

 the descriptions of the shrubs, and here a valuable help is offered 

 in the numerous illustrations, made by the author himself, in 

 which he has indicated what are considered the essential char- 

 acters. 



The little work must not be viewed from the scientific stand- 

 point, for the author makes no claim along this line. Considered 

 from the point of view of the author, and of that large class who 

 desire merely to know the names of shrubs, this little volume 

 will be of great use. 



George V. Nash. 



A recent investigation of the sargasso sea was undertaken by 

 Dr. John J. Stevenson. He says {Science, December 9, 1910) 

 that the "indefinite descriptions of the area and mass of seaweed, 

 as well as the extraordinary statements made by some authors 

 in discussing the origin of coal, induced the writer to make an 

 examination of the conditions for himself. The matter is easy, 

 because the steamship route between Barbadoes and the Azores 

 crosses the area diagonally and passes very near the center." 

 His own observations, and the information gained from officers 

 who had crossed the sargasso sea many times, lead him to think 

 that "much depends on the time of year, for weed appears to 

 accumulate while the trades are mild and to be broken up later 

 in the season when the strength of the winds increases. In any 

 case, however, the weed occupies only a small part of the area, 

 the patches being separated by wide spaces of clear water, almost 

 free from weed. Many of the bunches show unmistakably that 

 they had been attached to rock; and the plants have traveled 

 far, since in a large proportion of bunches only a part is living, 

 the dead parts being of a brownish color." It is evidently un- 

 usual to find a patch exceeding a half acre in extent. In passing 

 through the Bahamas the seaweed is found to be "much more 

 abundant than along either of the lines followed across the sar- 

 gasso. The weed is evidently the same, being in circular bunches 



