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BOOK REVIEWS— Continued from Page 76. 
HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION— CRYPTOGRAMS. 
Of the scientific results of the Harriman expedition to Alaska in 1899 
two instalments appeared some time ago. Three more have now been pub- 
lished almost simultaneously, by Doubleday, Page & Co. In Volume III, 
Grove K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, follows up Mr. 
Muir’s earlier account of the glaciers with the story of his own observations 
and conclusions. A comparison is made between the size and conditions of 
rivers of ice as previously reported and as they existed in 1899, thus afford- 
ing indications of the recent changes and furnishing the basis for future 
study. Professor Gilbert was especially alert, too, to phenomena which 
would throw light on the glaciation of the eastern part of the United States 
many thousand years ago. 
The papers on “ Geology and Paleontology” (Volume IV) were contrib- 
uted by five different experts, three of whom accompanied the expedition, 
the others having discussed material submitted for examination. Dr. 
William H. Dali, Dr. B. K. Emerson and Dr. Charles Palache conducted 
their researches in person. Inasmuch as Mr. Harriman’s steamer merely 
skirted the coast, geological investigation was necessarily fragmentary. So 
incomplete is existing knowledge about Alaska, though, that every addition 
counts. One of the noteworthy results achieved was the correlation of slates 
and shales in three widely separated regions, and the determination of their 
age as early Jurassic. Another was the discovery of molluscan fauna in 
Eocene rocks, in a locality that was the scene of volcanic activity in early 
Tertiary time. 
The observations of living cryptogramic plants — fungi, lichens, algae, 
mosses, sphagnums, liverworts and ferns — were made by Dr. William Tre- 
lease and several assistants, and are embodiod in Volume V (Botany). No 
less than 1,616 species were found in all, and their relationship with others 
elsewhere has been carefully worked out. An entertaining account of the 
utilization of plants by the natives is contained in Dr. Trelease’s intro- 
duction. 
The fungi are treated by P. A. Saccardo and Charles H. Peck : the lich- 
ens by Miss Clara E. Cummins, with admirably simple keys : the algae by Dr. 
Alton Saujiders; mosses by J. Cardot and I. Theriot; sphagnums by C. 
Warnstorf, whose determinations have heen edited by Dr. Trelease; the 
liverworts by Alex. W. Evans; and the pteridophytes by Dr. Trelease. 
The phanerogams are to be presented in two volumes, under the editor, 
ship of Mr. F. V. Coville, and are announced for the current year. 
A, M. S. 
