Botany and Zoology. 4<>7 



the rocka referred to in the title. The rocks arc rhyolytee, 

 augite-andesytes, diabase, gabbro, hornblende-diabases, horn- 

 blende-picryte, and others. Their origin, the nature of the crust - 

 movements leading to the volcanic irruptions, the following oi the 

 lighter acidic lavas by the heavier basic, are among the subjects 

 discussed. 



14. ScapoliU Rock. — Professor F. L. Xason, of New Brunswick, 



N. .1.. states in a letter of April 5th, that he has found, associated 



with the crystalline limestone of Vernon, Franklin Furnace, and 



it a, New Jersey, a Scapolite rock, consisting of scapolite, 



hornblende, pyroxene and orthoclase. The rock is usually well 

 foliated. Titanite is rather abundant in the rock. 



III. Botany and Zoology. 



1. Histology as a Basis for Classification. — At the Botanical 

 Congress held in Paris, on the 24th <of August, and now pretty 

 fully reported in the Bulletin de la Societe Botanique de France, 

 there was an elaborate paper by Vesque, in which he supported 

 by additional instances the claims of Microscopic Anatomy as a 

 factor in Systematic Botany. The positions taken by Vesque 

 were contested by many disputants, one of the more important 

 opposing communications being from Cornu. G. l. g. 



2. On the Stem Structure of lodes Tomentilla ; by B. L. Robin- 

 son. (Ann. da Jardin Botaniqne de Buitenzorg., vol. VIII, p. 

 95). — In this interesting paper Mr. Robinson treats of the anoma- 

 lous histological features of the species mentioned in the heading, 

 and takes up also certain other members of the Order Phytocre?iece 

 to which it belongs. Some of the morphological features are 

 elucidated with much skill. g. l. g. 



3. Garnsey's Translation of Sachs's History of Botany. — When 

 the German edition of this interesting work appeared, we took 

 occasion to give in this Journal an extended review of its chief 

 features. It is therefore unnecessary to go over the same outlines 

 again. It is, however, due to the translators to say that his work 

 has been remarkably well done and that it brings out clearly the 

 attractive style of the German teacher. Some slight mistakes 

 which were attributable to careless proof-reading or transcription 

 in the original have been carefully corrected, and the English 

 edition is uncommonly free from errors. The naive preface by 

 Professor Sachs to this translation is well worth giving almost in 

 full, since it sums up well a few of the changes which his views 

 experienced after the publication of the works of Darwin on the 

 movements of plants, and certain other treatises which contro- 

 verted positions held by him. 



"On questions connected with times long gone by, the decision 

 of the experts has in most cases been already given, though I 

 myself found to my surprise that older authors had for centuries 

 been regarded as the founders of views which they had distinctly 

 repudiated as absurd, showing how T necessary it is that the works 



Am. Jour. Scl— Third Series, Yol. XXXIX. No. 233.— May, 1890. 

 27 



