42 Recent Literature. [January, 
as we are informed by Erman.” Again, on page 238, he says, “ During- 
that examination, with the animal so close before me, and made still more 
critical by handling it, I became entirely convinced of the specific iden- 
tity of the reindeer of Lapland and the woodland caribou of America, 
and in this opinion I was only confirmed by a subsequent examination of 
the wild reindeer of Norway.” 
The Scandinavian elk was also at one time domesticated, and success- 
fully broken to draw loads, but the experiment was abandoned, while 
trials made in America, our author tells us, proved that it can be do- 
mesticated. 
On the southern edge of the Dovre Fjeld he passed by the present 
habitat in Norway of the elk (Fig. 4), “ which is specifically identical with 
the American moose, though it is a little less in size and not quite so 
dark in color, but in all essential particulars they are precisely alike, and 
if one from either side of the Atlantic were transferred to the other, no 
one would suspect that he was an emigrant.” 
Of the quality of the illustrations, our readers, through the liberality 
of the author and his publishers, have an opportunity to judge. They 
were drawn by an excellent German artist, from animals preserved in 
captivity, and while standing quietly. In the case of the elk, however 
we doubt whether the engraver has done justice to the drawing of the 
artist. ; 
Some unfortunate typographical errors occur, as “ Dover-fjeld” for 
Dovre-fjeld, “ Felle Fjeld” for Fille Fjeld, “ Romsdel Fjord” for Roms- 
dal Fjord, while in most, if not every case, Christiania is spelled “ Chris- 
tiana.” 
DicnoGamy IN Prants.1— Our readers will recall with pleasure a 
translation of some of Professor Delpino’s notes on this subject printed 
in this journal, July, 1871. 
The present work is far more comprehensive than its modest title in- 
dicates. It classifies the insect-visited flowers upon a new basis, namely, 
with regard to the attractions which they offer insects, and birds as well ; 
it presents, however, an exhaustive statement of the peculiarities of 
structure which render close-fertilization unlikely. As a mere hint of 
the method, we will allude to the group of odoriferous blossoms. These 
flowers are divided into two classes, sympathic and idiopathic. The 
former is subdivided into those flowers which are (1) sweet-smelling, 
(2) aromatic, (3) fruity in odor, like Calycanthus. ‘The second class, 
comprises (4) those with heavy odor (e. g., Papaver), and (5) those which 
are nauseous, as some of the stapelias. But it must be further stated 
1 Ulteriori Osservazioni sulla Dicogamia nel Regno vegetale, per FEDERICO DELPINO: 
parte seconda, pascicolo ii. Milano, 1875. : 
er Observations and Considerations respecting Dichogamy in the Vegetable King- 
dom Detrrno. (This volume of 350 pages is an extract from the Proceed- 
ings of the Italian Society of Natural Sciences in Milan, vols. xvi., xvii.) 
