78 Scientific Intelligence. 



pal features of this new system have already been presented in 

 this Journal, and therefore need not be again spoken of in detail. 

 But it seems proper to mention the fact that Professor Van 

 Tieghem's system, although distinctly revolutionary, appears to 

 offer advantages in practical ways, especially in bringing out 

 clearly the disguised resemblances. The author has done good 

 service in emphasizing a good many things which have been more 

 or less overlooked in previous systems. It is not improbable that 

 some of these things have been insisted on rather too strongly, and 

 in this way, may throw the system somewhat out of proportion, 

 but thus far, this does not seem to be the case. At any rate, the 

 sense of general proportion is good, and, as a natural result, the 

 perspective is not misleading. Teachers will find a good many 

 fruitful suggestions in every part of the two volumes, but most of 

 all in the portion devoted to classification. g. l. g. 



4. Sketch of the Evolution of our Native Fruits ; by L. H. 

 Bailey; pp. xiii + 4'72, 125 figures in text. New York, 1898 (The 

 Macmillan Co.). — During the past ten years Professor Bailey has 

 made a study of our indigenous fruits and of the cultivated vari- 

 eties to which they have given rise. Some of the results of his 

 investigations have already appeared in periodicals, and the 

 present volume brings these scattered observations together and 

 presents the whole subject in a more complete and connected 

 form. The greater part of the book deals with the more important 

 of our fruits, those which are most widely cultivated and which 

 are consequently represented by the greatest number of cultivated 

 varieties. These include the grape, the mulberry, our native 

 plums, cherries and apples, the raspberry, the blackberry and the 

 dewberry. The chapter on the grape, though particularly 

 exhaustive, may indicate the scope of the work : in addition to a 

 history and description of our various native grapes and of their 

 cultivated varieties, it gives an account of the early attempts and 

 failures to introduce the European grape into eastern America 

 and concludes with a full bibliography of American grape litera- 

 ture. At the close of the book some attention is paid to our less 

 important fruits, the gooseberries, currants, etc., which, although 

 less widely cultivated, offer considerable promise to the cultivator. 



a. w. E. 



5. Bush-Fruits : a Horticultural Monograph of Raspberries, 

 Blackberries, Dewberries, Currants, Gooseberries, and other /Shrub- 

 like Fruits ; by Fred. W. Card; pp. xii + 337, 113 figures. New 

 York, 1898 (The Macmillan Co.). — The present book is the first 

 of a proposed series of monographs dealing with the various types 

 of American fruits. As its title indicates, it is distinctly horti- 

 cultural and devotes its chief attention to a description of the 

 varieties of the " bush-fruits " enumerated and of the methods 

 employed in their cultivation. a. w. e. 



6. The Metamorphosis of Asterias pallida [A. vidgaris~] with 

 special reference to the fate of the Body Cavities ; by S. Goto. 

 Jour. College Science Imp. TJniv. Tokyo, Japan, vol. x, pt. iii, 



