1897.) Recent Literature. 47 
the New Madrid earthquake. Science, apparently, is not favored by 
those having charge of the State Library, if we can judge from the 
catalogue of the botanical literature which is contains. The Academy 
should endeavor to change this. Certainly Science should be as well 
treated as literature in a state library. Mr. R. E. Call revises the 
Unios allied to U. parvus, doing it in a way to please those who do 
not believe, with the late Dr. Lea, that we have over 600 fresh water 
clams in the United States. There are two or three papers on fishes, 
but most important is one by Evermann and Scoville upon the spawn- 
ing of the blue back salmon of the Pacific rivers. These studies were 
made in the lakes of Idaho and the conclusion is drawn that these fish 
spawn but once and then die, and that the well known mutilations are 
received on the spawning beds while making their nest. 
The Academy is trying to make a thorough biological survey of the 
state and hence the local lists published have no little value. These 
include molluses, birds, fishes, the bird notes of Mr. Butler being espe- 
cially valuable from their fullness. Prof. Stanley Coulter reports upon 
the collections of plants—nearly a thousand species—that have come 
into the possession of the Academy ; but the first place in importance, 
though the last in the volume, should be given Prof. Eigenmann’s re- 
port of the biological survey of a limited fauna—that of Turkey Lake. 
The physical features of the lake are described in detail and small 
collections are reported upon by several persons but most interesting 
-and valuable are the studies of variation, the preliminary stages of 
which are reported upon. Such studies carried on in this manner 
would be of great value did they only give us results of use in system- 
-atic science ; but they promise more than that. 
The State of Indiana for two years past has published the Proceed- 
ings of the Academy, and it should continue to do so. There is not a 
state organization of similar character anywhere which is doing better 
work than is this. Its members are working for the good of the State, 
‘and this without any hope of gain. The State should make the results 
of these labors accessible to all.—J. S. 
Beal’s Grasses of North America.'—About ten years ago Dr, 
Beal, brought out his useful Vol. I, and now we have the companion 
volume after many years of waiting. The first volume treated the 
subject somewhat agriculturally while here we have a scientific de- 
scription of every species occurring in North ict including all 
the cultivated species also. 
1 Grasses of North America, by W. J. Beal, Ph. D., in two volumes. Vol. II, 
pp. viii, 706, 8vo, with 126 figures. New York, lanis Holt & Company, 1896. 
