The book opens with a key to the families of dicotyledonous species based upon leaf characters, and every species receives not only a full technical description, but also comes in for interesting comments upon habit and general ecological relations. Numerous drawings and half-tones add to the accuracy and clearness of the descriptions. It is not too much to say that the photographic reproductions surpass in beauty and presentation of detail any recent botanical publication, and the venation of leaves is shown in most instances by this method quite as well as it might be done by means of pen and ink sketches. The value of the descriptions is heightened by the inclusion of notes of economic interest. It is not unexpected that some errors should creep into the discussions on almost all phases of botany which are interspersed throughout the volume.
The appearance of a new botanical dictionary is most timely, and it is fortunate that the task of its preparation should be undertaken by such a skilful bibliographer as Mr. B. D. Jackson. His ‘Glossary of Botanical Terms’ (Lippincott) contains fifteen thousand words, or three times as many as have been included in any previous work of this character. This is indicative of a most energetic pursuit of investigations in all departments of the subject, and also of a lamentable tendency to the coinage by botanists of new and unnecessary terms upon the slightest pretext. A legitimate factor in the increase of the contents of such a work consists in the inclusion of words in common use which take on a technical meaning in botany; such, for instance, as altitude, abnormal, abrupt, absolute, accidental back, etc.
Derivations are given, but the history of the terms has not been attempted. According to the author, ‘anlage’ may be variously rendered as rudiment, inception or primordium. ‘Chlorophyll’ receives the double consonant at the end of the last syllable against the popular extra-botanical practice. Regarding ‘medullary’ the author says: “I have given the accent as it is always spoken (medul’-lary) though all of the dictionaries (botanical?) accent it as med’-ullary except Henslow’s.” In this the author had in mind the practice among his insular colleagues only, since the latter pronunciation is given in the Standard, Century and Webster’s Dictionaries and is followed by nine tenths of the American botanists. “Mycorhizome = mycorrhiza-like structures in Corallorhiza and Epipogum roots,” and “Mycorrhiza = symbiotic fungi on the roots of plants, prothallia, etc.,” are not only incongruous with orthography and botanical fact, but also with the usage of all recent writers on this subject.
While many other errors of this character could be adduced, the general value of the book is scarcely lessened, and it will be of the greatest service to the working botanist, not only in raising the general literary tone of his writings, but also in placing at his command a choice of all of the established terms dealing with any phase of the subject; an aid which will be greatly conducive to increased accuracy of statement.
A decade since, the majority of the botanists engaged in the study of the distribution of plants on this continent, as well as the strict systematists, were quite unanimously of the opinion that the territory within the boundaries of the United States had been quite thoroughly explored, and that the task of the collector are well-nigh done. Despite this discouraging conclusion a few enthusiastic workers have not intermitted their labors in a more critical consideration of the floras of the newer and less thickly settled regions, with the result that scores and hundreds of new species have been brought to light each year, and the awakening interest in the subject promises a re-exploration of the great West.
A striking example of the results awaiting the student in this line is afforded by Dr. Rydberg’s ‘Flora of Montana and the Yellowstone Park’ (New York Botanical Garden), which has recently appeared. Although the first collections of plants in this region were made by the Lewis and Clarke expedition nearly a century ago, Dr. Ryberg finds 163 new species and varieties in the 1,976 which he lists in this volume. Of this number 487 are found on both the eastern and western slopes of the continental divide, 268 on the eastern side only, 520 on the western side only, 42 of which are arctic and inhabit the high mountain summits, and 659 which have originated in the exact region under discussion. Seven hundred and seventy-six of the species listed were not included in Coulter’s ‘Rocky Mountain Botany,’ published a few years ago.
The symposium on the ‘Plant Geography of North American,’ to be given at the coming meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will do much to systematize investigations of this character and broaden the method of treatment accorded the subject in the future.
BIOLOGY.
The ‘Biological Lectures from the Marine Laboratory of Woods Holl, 1899,’ make up a volume of about three hundred pages which represent fairly the present tendencies of biological investigation in this country. The most striking things about the lectures are the wide range of topics which they treat, and the first-hand quality of the subject matter in each case. This is most clearly seen by a careful reading of the text, but a mere enumeration of a few of the sixteen titles and lectures makes it fairly obvious. Thus, D. P. Penhallow writes on ‘The Nature of the Evidence Exhibited by Fossil Plants, and its bearing upon our Knowledge of the History of Plant Life;’ D. T. MacDougal writes on the ‘Significance of Mycorrhizas,’ Edward Thorndike on ‘Instinct,’ Herbert S. Jennings on ‘The Behavior of Unicellular Organisms,’ Alpheus Hyatt on ‘Some Governing Factors usually neglected in Biological Investigations,’ T. H. Morgan on ‘Regeneration,’ C. B. Davenport on ‘The Aims of the Quantitative Study of Variation,’ Jacques Loeb on ‘The Nature of the Process of Fertilization.’
To the professed scientist these lectures will furnish expert opinion on certain important topics; the general reader will find in them a presentation not too technical or detailed. Professor Loeb’s lecture, for example, is for such readers the best account yet given of his experiments in artificial fertilization.