594 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  [Vor. XXXVI. 
Since that time the varieties of garden beans have greatly increased 
in Europe and the United States. All of the leading varieties of 
America and Europe were cultivated at the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, so that the growth and seed characters were used in the 
descriptions. The garden beans are grouped under the following 
genera: Phaseolus, Dolichos, Vigna, Glycine, and Vicia. The author 
gives a short account of the origin, uses, methods of culture, with 
a brief account of Bruchus obsoletus and Colletotrichum lagenarium, 
Uromyces phaseoli, and Phytopthora phaseoli. Three species of the 
genus Phaseolus are described, P. /unatus, P. vulgaris, and P. multi- 
florus. The greatest number of varieties are listed under P. vulgaris. 
Dolichos is represented by D. /ab/ab and D. sesquipedalis; Vigna 
is represented by V. catjang; Glycine by G. hispida, of which five 
garden varieties are listed, but this does not by any means comprise 
all of the varieties, as they are numerous in Japan and China, where 
the species has long been cultivated. The genus Vicia is repre- 
sented by a single species, V. fada. 
An excellent feature of the paper is the full citation of the liter- 
ature of the genus as well as that of the species, no pains having 
been spared to verify references. The half-tone plates accompanying 
the paper greatly aid in the botanical study of the garden beans. 
The excellent keys for garden varieties also help to facilitate the 
determination of the garden forms. This is one of the most impor- 
tant contributions to horticultural literature in this country. In point 
of thoroughness it is like his paper on Capsicum published a few 
years ago in one of the earlier reports of the Garden. It is a model 
of excellence in every way, and it may well serve as a guide for much 
of the erratic work carried on in this country in listing varieties and 
describing the same. 
The work carried out by the author is one that has long been 
neglected in this country. Mr. Irish is fortunate in having had at 
his disposal not only a large amount of material, — and such work can 
only be undertaken where this is at hand, — but also a good reference 
library, combined with acute judgment in discriminating between the 
puzzling garden forms. L. H. PAMMEL. 
. Pfeffer's Plant Physiology. — Pfeffer's! revision of his Z/fanzen- 
Physiologie has been so thorough and so time-consuming that only the 
: Pfeffer, W. Pflanzenphysiologie. Handbuch der Lehre vom iioii - 
peers in der Pflanze. 2. Auflage. Leipzig, Engelmann, 1901. 
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