240 



Notes and comment 



Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora of tlu^ Northern States and 

 Canada, the first and only work of its kind and scope, has just appeared 

 in a second edition (Charles Scribner's Sons). The general features 

 of the first edition have been retained, both in the typographical style 

 and the handling of the subject matter. There has been a slight exten- 

 sion of the territory covered, to include the entire mainland of eastern 

 Canada together with Newfoundland, and a westward extension to 

 include the whole of Nebraska. An addition of 504 species has been 

 made to the 4162 which were described in the first edition, a few alter- 

 ations in nomenclature have been made, and some of the illustrations 

 have been replaced by more effective ones. 



The concise and exact descriptions of the Illustrated Flora recom- 

 mend it to general use among botanists even more than do the illus- 

 trations, helpful as these are to the beginner or the person who is 

 endeavoring to become acquainted with a new flora in a short time. 

 Although works of this character are primarily designed to give only 

 information as to the identity of plants, it is extremely unfortunate 

 that they should not also be made the vehicles of a portion of our 

 knowledge as to the habitat and distribution of the various species. 

 Very many plants are so ubiquitous in occurrence and very many hab- 

 itats are so ill defined in their physical characteristics, that precise 

 habitat statements could be made for only 40 to 60% of the north- 

 eastern flora, but they would be well worth making for these plants, 

 which would comprise the most important species from a geographical 

 standpoint. Statements of distributional limits would be much easier 

 to make, for every large herbarium contains enough material to enable 

 the author of a flora to describe the range of each species much more 

 specifically than is. commonly done. In the Illustrated Flora, and a 

 score of other floristic works, it is customary to mention the two states 

 which terminate the distribution of a species, or perhaps the three or 

 four states which occupy its corners, when it would be both possible 

 and easy to mention half a dozen other states or some physiographic 

 or geographical region to which the plant is confined, thereby giving 

 a far more definite idea of its distributional area, and correspondingly 

 increasing the usefulness of the Flora. 



Elementary Studies in Botany is a new high-school text from the 

 hand of Prof. John M. Coulter (D. Appleton and Company). It is 

 manifestly designed to meet the latter-day demand for practical instruc- 

 tion which will closely relate school work to the activities of the farmer. 



