571 



attention to the shape of names tends to this result. The specific 

 name of the house-wren is aklon not cedon; the generic name of 

 the wood-warblers is Dendnvca, not Dcndroicu. Occasional airing 

 of the Greek roots is as good for the health of the outgrowing 

 words, as stirring the soil about the roots of a tree is for its vigor. 

 In writing MniotiUa instead of the customary Mniotilta, did Mr. 



For that is the way Yieillot spells the word, if we remember 



Morse's First Book of Zoology. 1 — This charming little book 

 will, we imagine, be immensely liked by young people, whether 

 they use it as a text-book or receive it as a holiday present. It is 

 designed for boys and girls, and presupposes an entire ignorance 



study of the objects themselves. The writer tells young people 

 how and where to look for specimens. After an excursion in 

 search of shells, insects, etc., the author as it were, sits down by 



main points in their structure. There is little method in the plan 

 of the book, and the reader is not bewildered with a "natural 



anatomy. The book is sumptuously printed and hound. 



BOTANY. 



Sequoia sempervirens. — At a recent meeting of the California 

 Academy of Sciences, Dr. A. W. Saxo made a preliminary report 

 on a grove of colossal redwood trees that have been discovered on 

 the course of the San Lorenzo, which takes its rise near Saratoga, 

 in Santa Clara County, and debouches into the Bay of Monterey, 



