Literature. ig'; 



steady, but when such Hght is at all painful it is safer to read or 

 write only during the day. Reading in the horse or steam cars, 

 requires too great an exertion of the accommodative power to keep 

 the eyes fixed on the letters. The accommodative power is also 

 too much taxed by reading when lying down. 



LITER A 7 URE. 



Pittonia: A series of botanical papers, by E. L. Greene, part 

 2, is at hand. The author explains that the name is in honor of 

 the great French botanist, the family name of Tournefort. A bo- 

 tanical sketch of San Miguel island, with a catalogue of the flower- 

 ing plants, is an interesting feature of this issue. 



A revision cf North American Linaceae, by Prof. Wm. Gre- 

 lease, from the Trans. St Louis Acad. Sci., V., 7-20, from the 

 author, is a valuable contribution to our botany. 



Vegetable Parasites and Evolution, is the title of an address by 

 Prof. W. G. Farlow, before the section of biology, A. A. A. S., 

 August, 1887. 



Dr. Geo. Vasey has issued Bull. No. 4, botanical division of the 

 Dept. Agriculture, giving the desiderata of the National Herbari- 

 um fo North America, north of Mexico, from Ranunculaeeoe to 

 Rosacrsel inclusive, including nearly 700 plants of which specimens 

 are wanted. 



A report on experiments on the cottony cushion-scale and the 

 red-scale, by Albert Koebele, 1887, has been received from the 

 author. 



Bibliographical contributions, No. 25, consists of a list of works 

 on North American fungi, by W. G. Farlow and Wm. Trelease. 

 It is issued by the Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, 

 Mass., 1887. 



Ornithological Observations in San Diego County, by W. O. 

 Emerson, is the title of a valuable paper on our birds in Bull. 7, 

 Cal. Acad. Sci., 419-431, for which we are indebted to the author. 

 The observations were mainly made in the Volcano Mountains and 

 in Poway Valley. 



An account of the importations and exportations of horticultural 

 products for 1884 to 1886, by Ch. Joly, Paris, 1887, is a valuable 

 pamphlet of 9 pages, showing the extent of the trade in France 

 and the distribution of her products in foreign countries. 



Dr. C. C Parry gives a partial revision of the Uva-ursi section 

 of the genus Arctostaphylos, as represented on the Pacific Coast, 

 in Bull. 8, Cal. Acad. Sci., 483-496. He seems to favor the re- 

 establishment of Nuttall's Xylococcus (X. bicolor). A. pungens 

 and A. glauca he treats as extra-limital (Mexican) species, the 

 California plants hitherto known under these names receiving 



