250 Scientific Intelligence. 



knowledge of the distribution of plants in Africa. Contrary to 

 what one would have supposed, the Bignoniaceae are represented 

 by very few species. Acanthaceae and Verbenaceae are only 

 fairly well represented and the same is true of Labiatae, although 

 a considerable number of new species of the last-named order are 

 described. Of the SelagineaB, which are abundant at the Cape, 

 none were known in West Tropical Africa previous to Wel- 

 witsch's discovery of three species, which are said to be among 

 the most delightful of the plants of Huilla. " The negresses, who 

 are in general but little susceptible to the beauties of nature, are 

 in the habit of weaving in their head-dresses the flowering 

 branches of the two species of Selago." The Proteaceae, charac- 

 teristic plants farther south, are represented only by Leucaden- 

 dron with six species and Faurea with three species. The 

 Loranthaceae, which increase progressively from the sea coast 

 towards the highlands of the interior and culminate in the moun- 

 tainous forests of Pungo Andongo and Huilla at an elevation 

 between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, are well represented by 28 species. 

 The Euphorbiacese are numerous and those near the sea shore 

 and on high plateaus have the cactus-like habit, while in the 

 mountainous wooded region are found foliaceous climbing and 

 arborescent species which resemble in habit orders like Con vol vu- 

 laceae, Urticacae and Leguminosae. w. g. f. 



5. Botany : an Elementary Text for Schools ; by L. H. 

 Bailey. Pp. xiv + 355, with 500 figures. New York, 1900 (The 

 Macmillan Company). — Two years ago, Professor Bailey pub- 

 lished his " Lessons with Plants," which soon became favorably 

 known to the botanical public. His new text is written in the 

 same spirit but is rather more comprehensive in its scope. The 

 book is divided into four parts : the first of these, occupying 

 rather more than half the volume, deals with " the plant itself ";. 

 the second part treats " the plant in its environment "; the third 

 gives a short account of "histology, or the minute structure of 

 plants"; while the fourth, entitled "the kinds of plants," 

 includes descriptions of a number of common wild and culti- 

 vated plants, with analytical keys to aid in their determination. 

 The subject-matter, written in the author's usual style, requires 

 little comment. One cannot help being surprised, however, at 

 the admission of such topics as the "burst of spriug" on page 

 40, and the " expressions of plants " on page 60. Possibly this 

 is explained by the introductory statement that the book was 

 written for the pupil rather than for the teacher. Although 

 some of the half-tone figures are inferior in quality, the illustra- 

 tions are, for the most part, satisfactory and well selected. Cer- 

 tain of them, however, might have been omitted without 

 detracting from the value ol the book, figures 347 and 380, for 

 example, bringing out essentially the same points. a. w. e. 



6. Plant Life and Structure ; by Dr. E. Dennert, translated 

 from the German by Clara E. Skeat. Pp. viii + 115, with 56 

 figures. London, 1900 (J. M. Dent). — This little volume is issued 



