1883.] Entomology. 877 
kie’s plan as outlined in his book, yet the book will probably do 
ood in directing the attention of teachers and students into bet- 
ter lines of work. 
Twenty-five pages at the beginning of the book are devoted to 
the examination of the morning glory, and it is not too much to 
say that any student who will carefully go through the work in- 
dicated here will have a better knowledge of the’ structure of a 
flowering plant than could be acquired by the “analysis and clas- 
sification” of a dozen or more plants in the old way. 
The last fifty pages constitute the guide to the examination and 
description of plants.. Here again the student’s attention is di- 
rected to finding out what the structure of the plant is, and little 
or nothing is said about the matter of determining the plant's 
place in any system of classification. 
With the part of the book intended for the general reader we 
have strictly nothing to do in this article; however, it may not 
out of place to say that the author has presented in plain and 
non-technical English the principal facts as to the structure of the 
flowering and flowerless plants. Some errors of statement mar 
e pages here and therë, due, doubtless, to hasty writing. Thus 
“All dicotyledonous plants have open bundles” requires modifi- 
cation ; so, too, the statement that the ducts in the rattan cane 
afford a “free passage-way for the sap;” and that the large inter- 
cellular spaces of aquatic plants are “for economizing material.” 
—C. E. Bessey. 
Algz 
the bulletin of the Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. x1, possesses un- 
usual interest. Certain Nostocaceous alge appear from the evi- 
ce to have caused the death of many domestic animals which 
drank of the waters of the lake at Waterville. The particular 
Species which seems to have proved fatal is the Rrvularza fluitans 
of Cohn. It occurs as little gelatinous balls “of the size of a tur- 
nip seed,” studded with innumerable little points, giving them a 
bur-like appearance. They were afterwards found in small quan- 
tities in Lake Phalen, from which the water supply for the city 
of St. Paul is obtained. In the words of the author, “This dis- 
covery lends great additional interest to the real character of the 
Waterville plant.” i 
ENTOMOLOGY.’ 
_ Caprirication.—We referred in the June number to interest- 
ing articles from Westwood and S. S. Saunders on the fig caprifi- 
? This department is edited by Pror. C. V. RILEY, Washington, D. C., to whom 
communications, books for notice, etc., may be sent. 
