324 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXV. 
synonymy and description, and the essential fruit characters of 
the genera are clearly and accurately figured. In pleasing con- 
trast with the habit of some writers, the authors give a full cita- 
tion of the material that they have examined in the course of 
their study — on the satisfactory result of which they are to be 
congratulated. 
Studies of Plant Life! is a laboratory guide for high schools, 
which represents the experience of three Chicago teachers. The 
twenty-four studies it contains, each consisting of directions and 
questions regarding easily obtainable material, are intended to sup- 
plement the botanical lectures or text-book work of a school year. 
Part I, made up of seventeen studies, deals mainly with Crypto- 
gams; Part II is devoted to the organs of Spermaphytes and their 
modifications. Much use is made of the compound microscope and 
of comparatively inexpensive apparatus. In an appendix are given 
directions for twenty-four experiments illustrating nutrition, metab- 
olism, growth, and irritability. Following this is an outline of a 
model field trip showing what may be done in the way of ecological 
study. At the end of the book comes an analytical key for the 
determination of one hundred seed plants of northeastern United 
States, which includes a short synopsis of forty-two families of 
angiosperms. 
The book seems well calculated to direct young students along 
profitable and interesting lines of work, following present-day 
methods of teaching the * New Botany." 
But few errors have been noticed, and these are for the most part 
such as any competent teacher may be trusted to correct before they 
are likely to become a source of trouble to pupils. Special attention 
should be called to the need of amending the study on seeds and 
seedlings. Here the most unfortunate misconception is the treat- 
ment of the maize kernel as a seed, the funiculus and hilum of 
which the student is expected to find. F. L. S. 
Notes. — Professor Engler has issued the first of a series of 
“Erganzungshefte” to the phanerogamic portion of Engler and 
Prantl's Die Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien, containing additions for 
the years 1897-98. The publication of the regular fascicles of this 
* Pepoon, Herman S., Mitchell, Walter R., and Maxwell, Fred B. Studies of 
p lant Life, a series of exercises for the study of plants. Boston, D. C. Heath & 
Co. 1900. 12mo, cloth, xii + 95 pp. 
