1893.] Botany. 47 
BOTANY. 
A New Edition of Wolle’s Desmids.—Botanists who failed 
to secure a copy of the first edition of Wolle’s “ Desmids of the United 
States,” and who were meditating whether or not to pay the extortionate 
prices charged by the antiquarian booksellers, will be glad to know 
that the author has brought out a new edition with considerable addi- 
tions, which he is offering at $6.50. The book was well worthy of 
this new edition, which will doubtless find a ready sale. 
Botanical Definitions.—It is the misfortune of every science 
that it has a mass of technical words or of words with technical mean- 
ings, which must be defined before they can be understood by the 
general reader. Indeed the number of these terms is so great in some 
sciences, notably Botany, that even the professional botanist is obliged 
to turn to some handy volume for the meaning of a strange word. So 
we must have glossaries and dictionaries of scientific terms. The latest 
one to appear is Crozier’s “ Dictionary of Botanical Terms,” a pretty 
volume of about 200 pages, upon which the publishers (Holt & Co.) 
have done well their share of the work. Turning to the substance of 
the volume we find it disappointing. While it catalogues about 6000 
words and omits few words of importance, and while its definitions are 
generally not false, they are in very many cases so meagre as to leave 
the user of the book little wiser after than before consultation. The 
author has failed to distinguish between a true statement regarding a 
word, and a definition of the word. Many of the definitions in this 
book do not define. As examples, see Accessory Gonidia (“gonidial 
formations in some species of Mucorini in addition to the typical 
kind”), Apical Cell (“the generating cell of a growing point”), 
Archegonium (“the female organ in the higher cryptogams”), Basid- 
iospore (“a spore borne on a basidium, as those of mushrooms”’), 
Linnzan System (“the system of classification devised by Linnzus, 
founded upon the number and arrangement of the stamens and pis- 
tils; sexual system”), Sexual System (“see Linnean system”). On 
the other hand, some of the definitions of the new terms are well 
drawn. The older terms fare pretty well, and are as well defined as 
they usually are. It is the new terms which often fare badly. Yet such 
a book is not wholly useless. When one needs to confirm his impress- 
ion as to the meaning of a word it will be helpful, for, as indicated 
