CURRENT LIFERATURE 
MINOR NOTICES 
Fungous diseases and insect pests.—In a small volume issued as one of 
the Cambridge Farm Institute Series, PETHERBRIDGE' gives a popular account 
of the more common fungous diseases and insect pests of farm crops. The 
book is designed to be helpful to farmers and others who wish to acquire a 
knowledge of such things. The treatment is very elementary, but sufficiently 
extensive to give the uninitiated some idea of the nature of fungi and insects 
and their relation to agricultural crops. The text is nearly equally apportioned 
between the two main divisions of the subject-matter. The first division deals 
with fungi and fungous diseases, and the second with insect pests. ch 
division is introduced by a general chapter giving in each case a brief descrip- 
tion of fungi, their mode of life, and the part they play in crop economy; and 
in the second part a general account of the structure, life histories, and habits of 
insects. In the special chapters the plan is followed of describing in detail 
some of the representative types of fungi and insects, as for instance, Erysiphe 
graminis as an example of the mildews, and grouping around them others of 
similar nature. An idea of the scope of the work can best be gained from the 
chapter headings, as follows: Introduction to fungi; Potato diseases and allied 
diseases; Finger and toe, and wart disease; Mildews; Ergot and clover sick- 
ness; Rusts; Smuts; Introduction to insects; Butterflies and moths; Beetles; 
Flies; Aphids and sawflies; Eelworms. 
The book is written in a clear style and it will undoubtedly prove useful 
to the farmers of England in enabling them to identify the common insect and 
fungous diseases, and to find means of combating them. In the more exten- 
sive and diversified agriculture of the United States, where a vast special litera- 
ture dealing with each particular condition is already available to the farmer, 
the book would find little application.—H. HassELBRING. 
Flora of the Northern Territory of Australia—Ewart and Davies’ have 
published a flora of the large area known as the Northern Territory of Australia, 
not merely as a contribution to taxonomy, but also as an indication of “the 
fertility of the soil, the moisture conditions, and the fodder or other values of 
t Per , F. R., Fungoid and insect pests of the farm. Cambridge. 1918. 
2 Ewart, S hereies ve on Davies, OLIvE B., The flora of the Northern Terri- 
- tory. ag wis. pls. 27. Melbourne. 1917. 
$37 
