986 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vow. XXXIV. 
The Oregon State Biologist, Professor F. L. Washburn, has just 
published a brief illustrated account of the food fishes of the Oregon 
coast. The pamphlet includes brief descriptions of some dozen 
food fishes, accompanied by photographic and other illustrations, 
and marks a beginning in the systematic study of the food fishes 
of the state. 
BOTANY. 
Mrs. Dana's Wild Flowers.'— Mrs. Dana’s now well-known book 
owes its inspiration to an idea of Mr. Burroughs', that some day a 
book would appear by which our wild flowers should be made known 
without the trouble of analyzing them ; and his suggestion of color 
and season as the leading means of attaining this seemingly desir- 
able end has been faithfully worked out in it. Seven years have 
elapsed since the first edition appeared, and the fact that the edi- 
tion now under review marks the issuance of the fifty-sixth thousand 
shows that it has met with measurable favor. Opinions have differed 
as to its real value. People who love but do not know flowers, and 
who want to learn their names without trouble, have always liked it. 
People who believe that one might as well learn botany while learn- 
ing the names of the commoner and more showy plants have not 
infrequently regretted its publication. While the present reviewer 
would not start a student of botany with it, he believes it to be a 
very good book of its kind and for persons who will not go at the 
study in more than a holiday spirit, and it is a delight to thumb its 
pages. It may be that the numerous colored plates which form the 
novel feature of the new edition add to the value of the book, 
and they certainly are well done for three-color work, and will add 
to its salability. T. 
Our Native Trees." — Miss Keeler has made a very commendable 
addition to the semi-popular treatises on American plants, in a 
1 Dana, Mrs. W. S. How to Know the Wild Flowers. A Guide to the Names, 
Haunts, and Habits of our Common Wild Flowers. Illustrated by Marian Sat- 
terlee and Elsie Louise Shaw. New edition, with colored plates. New York, 
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900. 8vo, xxxix + 34 
? Keeler, Harriet L. Oz Native Trees = prip to Identify Them. A Popular 
eid of their Habits and their Peculiari New York, Charles Scribner's 
1900. 8vo, xxiii + tud pp. with n Vbi oie from photographs and 
iem Maisi from dra 
