Botany. 495 



Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. The author 

 states that he has been at work on the question proposed by the 

 minister, "the study of the structure, vital functions and diseases 

 of the Citri" since the year 1879, and the memoir is the most 

 complete work on the subject that has as yet appeared. A third 

 of it is devoted to the morphology and histology of Citrus and 

 related genera ; this is followed by chapters on the comparative 

 anatomy of the Aurantiacece. Part third treats briefly of the 

 chemical properties of the Gitri ; and part fourth is devoted to 

 diseases of cultivated species caused by fungi and insects. The 

 latter subject is discussed minutely and forms the most important 

 part of the memoir. In two previous papers the author described 

 166 species of fungi parasitic on Gitri, and the number has been 

 increased to 190 in the present volume. The plates of fungi 

 appeared originally in the Fungi Italice autographice clelineati of 

 Saccardo. The memoir ends with a full bibliography and index ; 

 the whole is beautifully printed and does great credit to the 

 Italian government. w. g. f. 



11. Elements of Botany, by Asa Gray. New York, 1887. 

 8vo, pp. 226. — This title was given by Dr. Gray to his first edu- 

 cational publication, more than. fifty years ago. The earliest 

 treatise has grown into the Text-Book, while this new work is 

 designed to replace the well-known Lessons in Botany. No con- 

 fusion is likely to result from the revival of the older name after 

 the lapse of half a century, and its assignment to a wholly 

 different book. The new work differs in many features from any 

 of its predecessors. It embodies the grammar of Organogi-aphy, 

 the first principles of Vegetable Physiology, and of Botanical 

 classification, and gives with the help of an adequate glossary, 

 directions for the description of plants. The bringing so much 

 within so narrow a compass has been accomplished by giving the 

 kernel of every topic without' any husks. The "Elements" is 

 designed to be the companion and interpreter of the "Manual" 

 and kindred works, and will be bound up with these as the gram- 

 mar and dictionary and handy work of reference. It is equally 

 adapted to the wants of classes and of those who are obliged to 

 study by themselves. ' G. l. g. 



12. Elements of Botany; by Edson S. Bastin, A.M. Chicago, 

 1887. 8vo, pp. 282. — The author of this treatise states that 

 there exists " a genuine need for some woivk on botany better 

 adapted to the wants of our high schools, academies, and colleges 

 of pharmacy and medicine than any in present use." The numer- 

 ous excellent introductory works on botany, now before the 

 English-reading public, have not made this want severely felt ; 

 but so long as teachers differ in their preferences as to methods 

 of presenting a subject to their pupils, so long will some place be 

 found for every new claimant upon the attention. Professor 

 Bastin's work is methodical and trustworthy, and its scope is 

 sufficiently wide for those whom it has been prepared to serve, 

 except that it is not particularly pharmacological, as would be 

 expected from the Professor in the College of Pharmacy at 

 Chicago. g. l. g. 



