Botany, ( 5 



Butte, Col., to the Bulphantimonite, 3(Pb, Fe)8. 2Sb,S,, described 



by him in this Journal for Dec. 1888. 



18, #cm litlch tfer Kry&taUt fttr jeden Freund der Natnr ina- 

 besondere fur Mineraliensammler leichtfasslich dargestellt von II. 

 \\w mhauru. 364 pp. 8vo, Leipzig, 1889 (\V. Engelmann). — Dr 

 Baumhnttcr lias succeeded in presenting the Btibjeot of crystal- 

 lography in an unusually attractive form. The general morpho- 

 logical relations are given alter the commonly accepted methods, 

 but besides this the growth of crystals and crystal groups is ex- 

 plained and illustrated by a large number of excellent figures 

 which reproduce nature's forms with remarkable success. The 

 physical characters of crystals are also briefly but clearly stated, 

 and particularly the molecular structure as developed by etching, 

 a subject to which the author lias himself made important contri- 

 bute 



III. Botany. 



1. Die natUrlichen Pftanzenfamilien, von A. Engler und K. 

 Pk.vn'tl. [Engelmann, Leipzig.] — In the earlier numbers of this 

 Journal we have taken occasion to speak in terms of high com- 

 mendation of this work now in course of publication. Two new 

 parts have just come to hand, and they can be praised as heartily 

 any of their predecessors. Part 37 is devoted to Clethraceae, 

 Pirolaceie, Lennoacea\ and a portion of Ericacae proper. Part 

 38 treats of the reminder of Ericaceae, together with Epacridaceae 

 and Diapensiacese, all by Professor Drude of Dresden, and the 

 order Myrsinaceae by Pax, of Breslau. 



A short account of the treatment of the orders Clethraceae and 

 Pyrolacea^ by Professor Drude, will indicate to our readers some 

 of the points of peculiar excellence wdiich this work presents. 

 But such an account will give also an opportunity of stating dis- 

 tinctly, once for all, what seems to us a marked defect in the 

 whole treatise. 



The treatment begins with a citation of the more important 

 literature of the subject. Then follows a half-page illustration, 

 giving the leaf and flow r ers of Clethra arborea and tinifolia, 

 together with numerous analj'tical details, all of them possessing 

 great clearness and beauty. 



The ordinal characters are well described, and then the author 

 gives a sketch of certain peculiarities presented by the organs of 

 vegetation, considered rather from a biological point of view. 

 Next comes a section to which we think exception must be taken, 

 namely, the statement of the supposed relations of the anomalous 

 genus Clethra. On the strength of a suggestion by Klotsch, the 

 author places the genus Clethra in an order by itself, but he does 

 not give plainly the reasons which have controlled him in this 

 disposition of the group. The evidence which he adduces cannot 

 certainly be all that which proved convincing to his own mind, 

 and he should have given his readers the advantage of all the 

 light which he himself possessed. We should not mention this, 



