27 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands. eee ste: Sed 
painted in water- colours and described by 
Sinciarr, Jun. London: Sampson Low. 81s. 6a. 
Tuts handsome quarto is devoted to dy alain if 
i aie botanical are evidently careful and accurate—of some 
the more striking plants of the Hawaiian Flora, collected on the 
atlas of Kauai and Niihau, the most northern of the Hawaiian 
fes 
fo 
indigenous plant, the ground te wholly taken possession of by 
weeds, shrubs and grasses imported trom various countries. It is 
remarkable that plants from both tropical and temperate regions 
seem to thrive equally well in these islands, many of them spread- 
ne as if by magic, and rapidly exterminating much of the native 
ora.” inclai i 
e 
letter-press to many of the plates tells the same tale. Unfortunately, 
as is the case elsewhere, it is the pee endemic species which are 
most in danger of extinction. The notes contain some interesting 
scraps of folk-lore: thus of iguana “Hillebrandii we are told, 
that ‘if the plant is pulled, ‘ the tears of heaven’ [rain] will fall. 
So in the old days the natives were careful not to gather it, as they 
dreaded the cold mountain rain, which was very inconvenient 
uring their expeditions.” This corresponds closely with the Cum- 
berland or eae which has gained or our Veronica Chamedrys 
the name of “« Thunner Flower. 
Manual ws the Botany (. Ba soomice:npeiige rie Pteridophyta) of the Rocky 
Mountain Region, from New Mexico to the British Boundary. 
By Joun M. Covrrer, Ph.D. ‘New York and Chicago : 
Ivison & Co. 1885. 8vo, pp. xvi., 458, 28; 1 dol. 85 cents. 
A’ sa in ig aot this kind is always a welcome Geren to the 
lications which are necessarily inaccessible to most private workers, 
tedious to consult. 
Dr. Coulter, whose name will be familiar to our readers in 
connection with his ‘ Botanical Gazette,’ was associated with Prof. 
4 
