1893.] Recent Literature. 365 
ico, and the celebrated gorge of Tyii-on-yi with its rock carvings in the 
vicinity of that pueblo. The scene of Bandelier’s arch:eologic novel, 
“ The Delight-Makers,” is placed in that locality. 
Macmillan’s Metasperma of the Minnesota Valley.’— 
In this thick, handsomely printed book, in which excellent paper and 
an equally excellent selection of type are manifest, we have a notable 
departure from the usual “ report” issued from a State printing office. 
So unlike the State or Government reports is this volume that one has 
to turn to the imprint to satisfy himself that it is actually the work of 
the State printer. If this model is followed in the future by other 
State printers then indeed is this book a noble pioneer in a much 
needed reform in State book making. 
Turning to the more important part of the book, namely its con- 
tents, we find that the author also has broken away from the tradi- 
tional form and style of State reports, and has given to the botanical 
world a useful book. He first of all chose an area with natural 
boundaries, instead of one arbitrarily set off for political and not sci- 
entific purposes. In his choice of the Minnesota Valley the author 
seems to have been fortunate in having to deal with an area of more 
than usual interest, but it is likely that if in other States natural areas 
were studied, similar interesting features would be discovered. 
The list of plants includes 1174 species and varieties, a large num- 
ber when one remembers that the area covers but 16,000 square miles, 
and the only plants enumerated are the Metaspermz (Angiospermz). 
These species are found in prairies and woodlands, in “ meadows, 
marshes, swamps and bogs.” ‘There is, however, a considerable pre- 
ponderance of the rolling prairies. The soils are not much varied, 
and the difference in altitude is little more than 1300 feet from the 
lowest point at Fort Snelling (688 ft.), to the highest hills in the east- 
ern part of North Dakota (2000 ft.). 
The author aims to trace the history of the flora of this valley. To 
him it is not enough to tell what plants occupy the territory ; he seeks 
to show how they came to do so, from whence they came, and why 
they came. Accordingly we have a series of discussions such as we 
rarely (if ever) have had in books dealing with local floras. Thus 
one finds such headings as these: “ The Dynamic Relations of Plants,” 
2Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota. Conway Macmillan, State 
Botanist. Zhe Metasperme of the Minnesota Valley, a list of the higher seed-pro- 
ducing plants indigenous to the Drainage Basin of the Minnesota River, by Conway 
Macmillan. Reports of the Survey, Botanical Series, i, Dec. 29, 1892, Minneapo- 
lis, Minnesota, pp. xiii, 826. Large octavo. 
