Botany. 415 



tains much new matter both in the theoretical portion prepared 

 by M. Levy, and in tbe second half, prepared by both authors, 

 which gives the physical and optical data for all important 

 species. It should be in hands of all workers in this subject. 



III. Botany. 



1. Contributions to American Botany, XVI; by Seeeno Wat- 

 son, Proceedings of Am. Acad, of Arts and Sciences, vol. xxiv, 

 pp. 52. 1. Upon a collection of plants made by Dr. E. Palmer, in 

 1887, about Guaymas, Mexico, at Muleje and Los Angeles Bay 

 in Lower California and on the Island of San Pedro Martin in the 

 Gulf of California. 2. Descriptions of some new species of plants, 

 chiefly Californian, with miscellaneous notes. — Dr. Watson states 

 that of the 415 native species collected by Dr. Palmer, 89, or 

 more than one-fifth, are wholly new and many others are of great 

 interest in various respects. " The larger part of the collection 

 was made about Guaymas itself, which town lies on the eastern 

 side of the Gulf of California, in the State of Sonora, in lat. 28° N. 

 and 250 miles south of the United States boundary. It is hemmed 

 in closely by very rocky hills and low mountains (of 1200 to 

 1500 feet altitude) intersected by narrow valleys. The artificially 

 watered gardens, with their irrigating ditches and brush fences, 

 protecting and favoring the growth of numerous native plants, 

 the rocky islands in the harbor, and the valleys and mountains 

 around, were all alike searched. Dr. Palmer remained here from 

 the middle of June to the middle of November, during which 

 time there were only occasional slight showers, which commenced 

 in August. The species obtained here numbered 283, of which 

 40 were also found in other localities .... The characteristics 

 of the flora of the region bordering on the Gulf of California, so 

 far as shown by this collection, are for the most part those com- 

 mon to the flora of the whole arid region of the interior, from 

 southeastern California, Arizona, and New Mexico southward into 

 Mexico, distinct in a great measure from that of California proper 

 on the one side, and that of the Gulf States on the other. . . . 

 The proportion in which the several orders are represented 

 in the collection is somewhat remarkable. Of the 415 species, 

 one-fourth are equally divided between the Gramineae (50) and 

 the Compositae (50). Another fourth includes only the four 

 orders Leguminosge (44), Euphorbiaceae (32), Malvaceae (17), 

 and Solanaceae (15). These are followed by the Nyctaginaceae 

 (15), Convolvulacese (13), Asclepiadaceae (10), and 53 other 

 orders with still fewer species. The important orders Ranuncu- 

 lacae, Rosaceae, Saxifragaceae, Umbelliferae, Ericaceae, Cupulif- 

 erae, Coniferae, and Orchidaceae are wholly unrepresented." 



The second paper mentioned above gives descriptions of ten 

 new species. The extent of Dr. Watson's contributions to North 

 American Botany can be understood when attention is called to 

 the fact that these two communications, which contain descrip- 



