No. 414.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 503 
time of the glacial period, which our author believes to have been 
comparatively recent, — developed as a result of crowding on account 
of the habitable area being reduced. If the date of the glacier can 
be reconciled with that of the rise of Amerindian culture, this 
hypothesis is well reasoned. 
The book is illustrated with several hundred plates from authentic 
and excellent photographs, chiefly from the collection of the Bureau 
of Ethnology. An appendix contains a complete list of linguistic 
stocks and a newlist of the tribes. The whole forms a very readable 
popular treatise upon a generally misunderstood race that is fast 
passing away. F. R. 
BOTANY. 
A Catalogue of North-American Plants. — Mr. A. A. Heller 
has published a second edition of his Catalogue of North-American 
Plants! The catalogue is intended to be a complete list of the 
names of the Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes of the region 
` included in the title, and which were published prior to October, 1900. 
The sequence of genera is that of Engler and Prantl’s Z/fanzenfa- 
milien, the species being arranged alphabetically, and the most impor- 
tant synonyms given. A number of new combinations are published 
on pages 3 to 8, so we would not expect to find the first publication 
of names in the list, as was the case in Patterson's Check-List ; but if 
some names have not been overlooked in the preparation of the cata- 
logue, they appear to have been here for the first time suppressed. 
It is hardly possible that such a work could be much more than a 
compilation, though the most recent authority seems to be followed, 
and no doubt some synonyms are included, and the contrary ; also 
a few Mexican plants appear in the list. 
The typography is very good and shows a decided advance over the 
first addition ; but, considering the statement in the preface regard- 
ing the presswork, one would not expect to find as many errors as 
there are. The arrangement of the page is very neat and serviceable. 
Every other page is left blank for additions and corrections. T he 
Whole get-up of the book makes it very fit for use, and it will be 
exceedingly valuable, if not indispensable, to systematic workers. 
€ work is an indication of present taxonomic activity. The 
last species number in the 1898 catalogue was 14,534, and in the 
1 Heller, A. A. Catalogue of North-American Plants North of Mexico, Exclu- 
stve of the Lower Cryptogams. (2d ed.) 252 pp. 
