192 
Notices of Books . 
[February, 
Botany; Classification of Plants. By W. Ramsay McNab, 
F. L.S. “ The London Science Class-Books,” edited by 
G. Carey Foster, F.R.S., and P. Magnus, B.Sc. London : 
Longmans and Co. 
In this little manual compression seems to have reached, if not 
exceeded, its fair limit. Reversing the plan followed by Prof. 
McAlister in the companion volumes on zoology, the author 
devotes the larger portion of the space at his disposal to the 
lower forms of plant-life. Among the Thallophytes the families 
are characterised, whilst among phanerogamous plants they are 
simply enumerated without any reference to their distinctive 
features. In consequence the two portions of the book are of 
unequal value. There is a table of contents, but no index — an 
unfortunate deficiency, though inevitable from want of space. 
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
Institution , showing the Operations, Expenditure , and Con- 
dition of the Institution for the Year 1877. Washington : 
Government Printing-Office. 
This annual volume contains, in the first place, an account of 
the work done by the Institution and of its present position. 
The secretary, Mr. Jos. Henry, continues to urge, on what 
appear to us very valid grounds, the entire separation of the 
Institution from the National Museum of the United States. 
This latter establishment was formerly under the charge of the 
Patent Department, but was transferred to the Smithsonian 
Institution in 1858, whilst its importance fully warrants a dis- 
tinct establishment. The Proceedings of the Smithsonian 
Institution and of the Museum are of course blended in the 
volume before us. 
Amongst the most important work of the year we must men- 
tion Dr. Habel’s “ Archaeological and Ethnological Researches 
in Central and South America.” This gentleman, having taken 
Guatemala as a centre, devoted seven years to an exploration of 
the region, and afterwards visited Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 
Nos. 7, 8, and 9 of the Bulletins of the Museum have also 
been published. The first of these is a valuable contribution to 
the natural history of the Hawaian and Fanning Islands, and of 
Lower California. No. 8 is an index to the hitherto very com- 
plex synonymy of the Brachiopoda, which rank among the most 
characteristic forms by which strata are co-ordinated. 
Perhaps the most valuable part of the “ Report ” is the 
Appendix, which contains a profusion of valuable matter not 
