Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 13.djvu/386

372 "With this brief statement of the 'conditions precedent’ to the 'Flora of North America,' which have more interest for the botanist than the general reader, we glance at the work itself.

"The present (first in order of appearance, but not in botanical sequence) is the first part of the second volume, taking up the orders where the former flora left off. It begins with the Goodeniaceæ, and ends with the Plantaginaceæ. Two more parts will be required to complete the second volume; the one to immediately follow this will be devoted to the Apetalous and Gymnospermons Exogens, and the final part will contain the Monocotyledonous plants and the Vascular Cryptogamia. The first volume will include the Polypetalous orders, and the Ganiopetalæ to the end of Compositæ. It is expected that each volume will contain about twelve hundred pages.

"The first thing which will strike the working botanist on opening its pages is the excellent mechanical arrangement of the flora, and especially its compactness as compared with the former 'Flora of North America.' This is attained in part by conciseness of description, but mainly by the omission of extended synonymy. This lack of synonyms is happily supplied by the contemporaneous publication, by the Smithsonian Institution, of the 'Bibliographical Index to North American Botany,' by that most industrious of botanical workers, Mr. Sereno Watson, of the Herbarium of Harvard College. This work gives full references for each species, and, while it is of the greatest importance that its matter should be recorded, it is not of a kind needed by the majority of those who will use the 'Flora,' and its preservation in a separate work is most fortunate, especially as it allows the 'Flora' to be much more compact.

"It is hardly necessary at this day to say anything in praise of Dr. Gray as a systematic botanist. Those familiar with his other works will be prepared for the admirable method which characterizes this; the same conciseness of description, the keen perception which seizes upon and points out the distinctive characters, and the same broad views of the range of genera and species which mark his other works, will be found here. Yet we venture to say that this work will add to his reputation with those who can understand the difficulties of his task, and can appreciate the completeness with which it is executed. Almost any one, familiar with botanical terms, can so describe a species that it may be identified by another. It is the treatment of large genera that puts the systematic botanist to the test. The generic description should give characters which cover every species, while the specific description should not repeat any of the generic characters—a matter simple enough, but its non-observance is very tiresome, even in the works of botanists of distinction. For convenience, large families have in many works an artificial key to the genera, and large genera a similar key to the species. This is well enough in elementary works. In the present 'Flora' the large genera are grouped in subgenera, which, if sufficiently important, have distinctive names; these subgenera are subdivided into sections and subsections, each briefly defined by prominent characters common to all the species it includes. For example, in 'The Flora' (which will soon become its accepted and familiar title), in the now large genus Mimulus, we have the primary divisions or subgenera: 1. Eunanus; 2. Diplacus; 3. Eumimulus; 4. Mimuloides; all except No. 3 having been ranked by one botanist or another as genera. Some of these subgenera include a dozen or more species, which are grouped in subdivisions of two to five, by characters common to all. It is in such grouping that the systematic botanist shows his tact, and we feel sure that those who make use of 'The Flora' will find that the eye of the author has lost none of its early keenness, and that his perception of the essential characters is as acute as ever.

"While we welcome this installment of the 'Flora of North America' as an important event in the history of American botany, and announce its appearance with no little national pride, we utter the wish of every American botanist when we express the hope that its author may be spared to complete the work so admirably begun."

periodical is to appear quarterly, or as nearly so as may be found practicable, each volume of four numbers containing about 384 quarto pages. It is designed chiefly as a medium of communication between American mathematicians, and has for its primary object the publication of original mathematical investigations. "In addition to this, from time to time concise abstracts will be inserted of subjects to which special interest may attach or which have been developed in memoirs, difficult of access to American students. Critical and bibliographical notices and reviews of the most important recent mathematical publications, American and foreign, will also form part of the plan."

"The editors believe it will materially aid in fostering the study of mathematical science throughout this continent, and they feel it their duty to state that any good which may arise from it will be in a great