BOOKS AXD WRITERS. 



— Ginn & Co. have recently issued a valuable little book 

 for young students of botany. It is by Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, 

 and is entitled " First Studies of Plant Life." The principal 

 facts in the growth and behavior of plants is described in very 

 attractive form. 



— The United States Government has just issued a monu- 

 mental work on the flora of Alabama, by Dr. Charles Mohr. It is 

 entitled "Plant Life of Alabama," and covers more than nine 

 hundred octavo pages, being one of the most elaborate of State 

 Floras thus far issued. Besides a systematic catalogue of the 

 plants of the State there is an interesting account of their dis- 

 tribution and adaptations. Nearly forty-five hundred species and 

 varieties are listed, of which number a little more than half are 

 flowering plants. Several new species are described. Dr. 

 Mohr's death occurred but a short time before the appearance of 

 his volume, which will remain a most worthy monument to his 

 memory. 



— As a general thing a "local flora." unless it be a mere list of 

 names, is of greater interest to the botanizer than any botanical 

 Manual. The author of the local rlora usually has room here and 

 there to insert observations on the habits and distribution of his 

 plants and gives his work a living interest, while the Manual all 

 too frequently smacks of dead plants and the herbarium. An 

 unique and most interesting addition to the list of local floras has 

 recently been made in the form of a 65-page pamphlet entitled 

 "Sylvan Ontario," by \Y. H. Muldrew, published by William 

 Briggs, Toronto. In addition to a list of the trees, shrubs and 

 vines with notes, there is an excellent key to the species illustrated 

 by 131 drawings of leaves and a very comprehensive glossary. 

 This publication ought to do much to advance the study of the 

 Canadian silva and will be of interest to all plant lovers of East- 

 ern America. It is published at 50 cents. 



