RECENT LITERATURE.

BESSEY'S BOTANY.-To one who is desirous of obtaining a knowledge of general botany we should unhesitatingly recommend this manual. Most of the botanies which the student deals with are manuals of the flowering plants, rather than of plants in general, and thus he is led to believe that there are few plants in the world besides the flowering ones, that what do exist are of little importance, and thus his idea of the plant world is a limited and one-sided one; and by plant we mean not a phanerogam or cryptogram, but a plant as distinguished from an animal. In the same way many of our manuals of zoology are treatises on the vertebrated animals rather than on animals in general. It is true that in order to teach the elements of botany to beginners it is better to give them a general idea of the structure, physiology and mode of development of a common, well-known and accessible flower or tree; but if the study of botany is to be made a discipline, if the student is required to acquire a good general knowledge of the plant world-and our college students should be required to attain such knowledge-he must, after acquiring a good general knowledge of a few common flowers, master the kind and extent of knowledge contained in a book like the one before us. In short, he should study with the aid of some such book as this the types of the leading divisions of plants, beginning with the Protophytes and ending with the algæ, mosses, ferns and flowering plants, or at least, if the pupil is not carried so far in his studies, the teacher should be armed at all points in his knowledge of general botany, so that he may rightly inform the pupil regarding the structure and physiology of the lower plants, for the sake of bringing out more clearly the position in nature and general relations to other organized beings of the flowering plants.

While, therefore, this book is designed apparently for advanced classes, it will be of especial value to the thousands of teachers of botany in the higher schools scattered over the country. Without disparaging school books written by other botanists, it seems to us that Prof. Bessey's book is indispensable to the teacher of botany as it is or should be taught in these days in our leading colleges and universities.

It moreover derives its value in large part from being compiled from the works of Sachs, De Bary, Hofmeister, Strasburger, Nägeli, Schwendener and others; the first part following quite closely Sachs' botany, many of the admirable cuts in that book being reproduced, so that those who cannot obtain the more costly and voluminous work of Sachs can master this book.

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The volume is divided into two parts; the first consists of

Botany for High Schools and Colleges. By CHARLES E. BESSEY. American Science Series. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1880. 8vo, pp. 611. $2.50.

twelve chapters on the following subjects: protoplasm, the plant cell, the cell wall, the formation of new cells, the products of the cell, the tissues, the tissue systems, intercellular spaces and secretion reservoirs, the plant body, the chemical constituents of plants, the chemical processes in the plant, and twelfth and lastly, the relations of plants to external agents. We have read most of this part with much interest, and do not know of a briefer, clearer and better illustrated exposition of the subjects treated. It is well adapted to give one who has but little special knowledge of botany a clear conception of the plant as an organism. A good many technical names are used, and an elementary knowledge of botany is required of the student, so that while we doubt whether high school classes are sufficiently advanced to use the book, the teachers of such classes should master this portion and present it in as simple language as possible to their pupils.

The second part occupies the last four hundred pages of the book, and is entitled, Special Anatomy and Physiology. It treats of the general classification of plants. The arrangement of the lower plants is a modification of the system of Sachs, while the author has made a considerable innovation in raising the Protophyta, Zygosporeæ, Oösporeæ and Carposporeæ to the dignity of primary divisions of the vegetable kingdoms, of the same rank as the Bryophyta, Pteridophyta and Phanerogamia. This part contains brief general descriptions of the cohorts, orders and tribes of plants, with sufficient reference to economic botany.

The illustrations are excellent and abundant, there being five hundred and seventy-three cuts scattered through the volume, a large number taken from Sachs' Botany, from De Bary, Hofmeister and other German, French and English works, while a number are original, having been drawn by Mr. J. C. Arthur.'

The work bears evidence of care and accuracy in its preparation, and while we have borne testimony to the general plan and its treatment, we leave to others the task of detecting and noticing the errors and shortcomings, if such occur.

HUXLEY'S INTRODUCTORY TO SCIENCE PRIMERS.'-Every incipient biologist or geologist should study this little primer, which will serve admirably its purpose as a brief and plain introduction to the study of nature. It is well calculated to be used as a text book for classes in elementary biology or geology, and we intend to use it as a basis for preliminary instruction to a course of physical geography. Beginning with nature and science it treats of sensation and things, causes and effects, the order of nature, laws of nature, and gives a definition of science. A second part discusses material objects, which are divided (A) into mineral bodies,

'Science Primers. Edited by Profs. HUXLEY, ROSCOE and BALFOUR STEWART. Introductory. By Prof. HUXLEY, F.R.S. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1880. 18mo, pp. 94. 35 cents.

water being the mineral chiefly referred to for the sake of illustration, and (B) living bodies. Under the latter head the wheat plant and the substances of which it is composed, the common fowl and the substances of which it is composed, are described in the compass of three pages; then the constituents of the body common to the wheat plant and the fowl. What is meant by the word living, and how the living plant comports itself, and how the living animal grows, and how living bodies differ from mineral bodies is told in a few clear, simple sentences. Finally the science of biology and its subdivisions, botany and zoology, are defined, and a final page or two is devoted to mental phenomena and the definition of psychology.

EMERTON'S SEASIDE COLLECTING.1 In England and France popular works on the animals of the seashore, and the names of Gosse, Forbes, Kingsley and Quatrefages are associated with some of the most entertaining books that have ever been written. America, on the other hand, has been wofully deficient in works of this character. The only ones which approach it being Mrs. Agassiz's Seaside Studies, Verrill and Smith's Invertebrata of Vineyard sound, and the charming little work of "Actæa." In the present volume Mr. Emerton has given us a well illustrated account of the common marine forms of invertebrates with the methods of collecting them. The work is written in Mr. Emerton's straightforward manner, and from a literary point of view is superior to his well-known volume on spiders. A fair proportion of the 161 figures which illustrate the book are new, while the remainder have not been copied often enough to render them at all hackneyed. The pictures of Lophothuria fabricii and Pentacta frondosa are possibly the best. Here we would remark that the genera Callinectes, Lophothuria and Leptosynapta seem founded on decidedly insufficient grounds, and should be replaced by Neptunus, Peolus and Synapta. The book is well printed on good paper and forms a very handy volume for all seaside visitors, and would prove especially valuable to the many who throng our watering places and who wish to know something of marine life.

It might not come amiss to add here that this is the first volume published by Mr. Bates, the successor to Mr. Cassino in the Naturalist's Bureau at Salem, Mass, and that it reflects great credit on the publisher.-J. S. K.

ZITTEL'S PALEONTOLOGY.-The third part of Vol. 1 of this important work especially commends itself to American palæontologists, since it continues and completes the elaborate account of

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1 Life on the Seashore, or Animals of our Coasts and Bays. By JAMES H. EMERTON. 8vo, pp. XX and 143. Salem, George A. Bates, 1880.

Handbuch der Paleontology. Unter mitwirkung von W. PH. SCHIMPER. Herausgegeben von Karl A. Zittel. I Band, III Lieferung, mit 195 original holzschnitten. München, 1879, 8vo.

fossil Echinoderms begun in the preceding part, and is partially based on the researches in this country of Hall, Billings, Shumard, Meek and Worthen and Wachsmuth, so that while the work is mainly compiled from European works and museums, the fauna of the two hemispheres is nearly equally well described and illustrated. The Crinoids are treated with fullness, the descriptions of the families and genera being preceded by more detailed accounts of the orders, while the essential features of the class are given at greater length, due reference being made to the structure of the hard and soft parts of the existing species. The Cystoidea and Blastoidea have received full and detailed treatment. The starfishes and sea urchins are described in the same manner, nearly as much space being given to the sea urchins as to the Crinoids. This part is illustrated by about two hundred woodcuts, nearly all well drawn and engraved. We do not know of a hand-book which will, when finished, be so useful for reference as this, at least so far as concerns the invertebrated animals and plants.

KOPPEN'S INJURIOUS INSECTS OF RUSSIA.-While the literature of economic entomology is fullest in this country, where more perhaps has been done than in Germany, France or England, considerable attention is now being given to this subject in Russia, which of late years, especially last year and this, has suffered grievously from the ravages of noxious insects. To the author of this book we are indebted for the best, most detailed and original treatise on the migratory locust of the old world.

After briefly enumerating the insects found on the more important trees and crops, the insects of different orders are described or referred to. The treatment of the subject is scarcely adapted to the needs of the unlearned, but as the first sketch of so vast a subject, the book will indirectly be of much practical value to Russian agriculturalists.

MISS OMEROD'S ENGLISH INJURIOUS INSECTS.2-Though this is a pamphlet of but forty-four pages, yet the eminently popular style and the illustrations will render it most useful to the average English farmer and gardener. Though British agriculturalists are heavy losers by the attacks of destructive insects, for many years past there has been a strange apathy on the part of the entomologists in calling attention to these pests. Miss Omerod's annual reports and her earnest labors in economic entomology will, it is to be hoped, awaken fresh attention to a subject which from its very nature has to be re-worked every few years. Miss Omerod announces her intention to prepare a hand-book of remedies to be used in checking the ravages of insects destructive to 1 Die Schädlichen Insekten Russlands. Von F. T. KOPPEN. St. Petersburg, 1880. 8vo, pp. 526.

2 Notes of Observations of Injurious Insects. Report 1879. London, W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen. London, 1880. I shilling. 8vo, pp. 44, with cuts.

the food crops, timber and fruit trees of England, and she has therefore issued a circular asking information concerning the habits, appearance and remedies against noxious insects.

WHITE'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEONTOLOGY.-These chapters contain descriptions of fossils discovered by the Hayden Survey, belonging to the Cretaceous, Tertiary, Laramie, Triassic, Carboniferous, Jurassic and again the Carboniferous formations of the Western Territories, in the order here named. The sudden, and as it has proved in many ways to be, disastrous abolishment by Congress of this great survey, has left no provision for the proper publication of the final results of the geological and palæontological work. But while the subjects treated of in these eight contributions have been thus presented in an unfinished state, opportunity has been taken to figure nearly every species described in the publications of the survey. Hence all that refers to the Tertiary, Cretaceous, Laramie and Jurassic invertebrates, as well as those of other formations, is rendered of much value in future researches in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Perhaps the most valuable of the contributions are Dr. White's descriptions of the Laramie invertebrates and his general introductory remarks. These afford materials for a monograph of the invertebrate animals of this interesting formation which it is to be hoped he may have the opportunity, by fresh field work, to complete.

THE ABORIGINES OF VICTORIA.2-This valuable publication was printed at the expense of the government of the province of Victoria in Southeastern Australia, and although it professes to sketch only the natives of the province aforesaid, we get from it a glance at all the Australian aborigines, their manners, customs, and racial peculiarities. The first volume enlarges upon the manner of sustenance, the education of children and the mental character of these natives; then follow sketches of their encampments and daily life, their diseases, their canoes, weapons and other implements. A chapter on pictorial representations drawn on pieces of bark will attract particular attention.

The second volume is devoted to the reproduction of numerous vocabularies and other linguistic material of the Victoria and Tasmania dialects, all of which seem to show considerable affinity and are, in part, of a very harmonious, or at least vocalic character; follows a series of appendices of ethnographic import: songs, music, sign-language, etc. Some of the songs are worded in the harmonious dialect of Kotúpna, at the junction of Goulbourn and Murray rivers. Among the myths, of which a large selection is

1 Contributions to Paleontology. Nos. 2-8. By C. A. WHITE, M.D. U. S. Geological Survey, F. V. Hayden in charge. (Extracted from the Twelfth Annual Report of the Survey for the year 1878.) Washington, July, 1880. 8vo, pp. 171, 42 plates.

R. Brough Smith, the Aborigines of Victoria. Melbourne, 1878. Two volumes in Lex. octavo, profusely illustrated.