462 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII. 
the scattered literature of Mexican botany and the great difficulty of 
identifying tropical plants is likely to appreciate the patience and 
perseverance required to prepare a list of this kind. Until Dr. 
Millspaugh turned his attention to Yucatan, it was botanically one 
of the least-known parts of our continent. Both from the character 
of its inhabitants and the perilous nature of its climate the region 
has always been especially difficult to explore. The exceptional 
energy with which Dr. Millspaugh has overcome these difficulties 
and collated in such a convenient form the results of his personal 
observations and those of others merits much praise. BLR 
Oudemans’s Fungi of the Netherlands.’ — In this large work, 
the second volume of which appeared last year, we have one of 
the most interesting and carefully elaborated fungus floras which has 
yet appeared. It represents the ripe life work of the well-known 
mycologist Dr. Oudemans, and both in its preparation and publica- 
tion great pains has been taken to make an attractive and useful 
ook. Were it simply a local flora, there would be no need of 
mentioning it here. Itis much more than this for several reasons : 
(1) many of the species described in it are of wide distribution ; (2) 
the generic and specific characters have been worked over independ- 
ently, apparently with great care, and therefore are very useful for 
comparison with those of Saccardo, Winter, Schroeter, and other 
authors ; (3) considerable attention has also been given to bibliogra- 
phy and synonomy. These two volumes deserve a place in the 
library of every critical student of the fungi, and it is to be hoped 
that the life and strength of the author may be spared to complete 
the work by the addition of a third volume on the fungi imperfecti. 
The volumes are printed in clear type on good paper and wholly in 
French. Each volume is indexed. Volume ii also contains a host 
index and fourteen plates of figures illustrating the genera of the 
Pyrenomycetes. The latter are a second edition of Saccardo’s 
“Genera Pyrenomycetum schematice delineata” with the figures 
redrawn and corrected where necessary. Erwin F. SMITH. 
1 Oudemans, C. A. J. A. Révision des Champignons des Pays-Bas. Amster- 
dam, Johannes Müller. Tome i, Hyménomycètes, Gastéromycètes, et Hypoder- 
mées. 8yo, 638 pp. 1892. Tome ii, Phycomycétes, Pyrénomycétes. 8vo, xvi + 
518 pp., tab. xiv. 1897. 
