Botany. 471 



sulphuric acid, he uses Kolossow's reagent, commonly described 

 as osmic-acid-uranium-nitrate, as a fixative, and then stains with 

 safranin or its equivalent. As a preservative he has had excellent 

 results with thymol water. For details and for the important 

 inferences, the reader is referred to the paper itself. The paper 

 indicates the magnitude of the work still to be done in this direc- 

 tion, and suggests well-tried methods for the work. The most 

 interesting generalization in the paper is that in regard to the 

 sieve-cells, which are regarded by the author as presenting, on 

 the whole, but slight differences from certain other active ele- 

 ments. G. L. G. 



2. The Phy to geography of Nebraska : I. General Survey ; by 

 R. Pound, Ph.D., Director of the Botanical Survey of Nebraska, 

 and F. E. Clements, A.M., Assistant Instructor in Botany, Uni- 

 versity of Nebraska. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1898. (Jacob North & 

 Co.) — This interesting work is a substantial contribution to our 

 knowledge of North American plants. While making themselves 

 familiar with the Flora of Nebraska, the authors undertook the 

 serious task of examining the species with relation to the sur- 

 roundings. The results of their exhaustive study are presented 

 here in a form wholly creditable to American science ; there is 

 no pretension about the volume ; it assumes to be simply an 

 account of the diversified vegetation of a single state, with 

 respect to origin, distribution and adaptation. A sound sense of 

 proportion and perspective characterizes the entire general sur- 

 vey thus given. With some of the minor matters we do not 

 agree, but we accept freely the fact that the authors have acted 

 according to their best judgment, and since they have investi- 

 gated this disputed matter on the spot, we are inclined to give 

 great weight to their decisions. The philosophic spirit and clear 

 insight which mark the volume give it much value as an aid in 

 the further prosecution of State botanical surveys. Since there is 

 not a dull chapter in the whole treatise, it can be recommended 

 to general students who may desire to see what new life has been 

 inlused into dry details of form and habitation of plants, and it 

 will be accepted by botanists as a distinct and valuable contribu- 

 tion to ecology. G. l. g. 



3. A Text-book of Botany ; by Drs. Strasbueger, Schimper, 

 Noll and Schenck of the University of Bonn. Translated from 

 the German by H. C. Porter, Ph.D., Assistant Instructor of 

 Botany, University of Pennsylvania. London and New i r ork, 

 1898. (The Macmillan Company.)— The German edition of this 

 admirable work has been already reviewed in this Journal. 

 Attention was then called to its excellence as an ideal text-book, 

 and emphasis was laid on the clearness and succinctness with 

 which the essentials of modern botany are presented in it. 



We have now to notice the same work in an unexceptionable 

 English dress. The translator has borne steadily in mind the 

 maxim that an exact translation must make short work of idioms. 

 In this case, the translator has broken up sentences into frag- 



