Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club/V11/Botanical Literature
January, 1884, p. 11[edit]
Botanical Literature.
Genera Pyrenomycetum schematice delíneata. By P. A. Saccardo.
This latest work of the well known Italian mycologist consists of 14 lithographic plates, large 8vo, on which are delineated the 280 genera into which the Pyrenomycetes are divided in the system of classification adopted in the two volumes of the Sylloge by the same author. The figures, though not claiming artistic perfection, are good and answer well the end for which they were intended. They give, in fact, "a bird's eye view" of this vast family of fungi and may be considered as indispensable both to the amateur and the critical student of mycology. The low price of the work (6 francs) places it within the reach of all. — J. B. E.
Botanical Micro-Chemistry: an Introduction to the Study of Vegetable Histology, prepared for the use of students by V. A. Poulsen, translated with the assistance of the author and considerably enlarged by William Trelease, Professor in the University of Wisconsin, 12mo. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co., 1884.
There has been considerable interest taken in this country for a few years past in the microscopic examination of plants, and the number of botanists who are turning their attention to the study of vegetable histology is gradually increasing. Although all the necessary apparatus for prosecuting this fascinating study has been easily procurable at moderate prices, there has hitherto been sadly needed some sort of a manual which should give the beginner directions how to proceed in the examination of the minute anatomy of tissues, while it should at the same time contain everything of importance that more advanced students might desire to be informed upon. This want has at length been supplied in the work before us, which, first published in Danish, then in French, German and Italian, has finally been translated into English by Prof. Trelease with the sanction of the author.
The work is divided into two parts: the first treats of microchemical agents and their application, with an appendix on cements and media for mounting purposes; and the second gives descriptions of the vegetable substances and the modes of recognizing them.
The work is rendered the more valuable by the additions that have been made by the translator, and by the numerous references to other works that give more detailed information than could be crowded into the compass of this. No student of vegetable histology can well afford to dispense with this work, and for this reason, and on account of its moderate price (one dollar), we predict for it a large sale.
Thirty-third Annual Report of the State Museum of Natural History. (Botany.) Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co., 1880.
Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the State Museum of Natural History. (Botany.) Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co., 1881.
From these interesting, but much belated reports of Mr. Peck the State Botanist, we learn that during the year 1879 specimens of, 183 species of plants were mounted and placed in the herbarium, none of which was before represented therein. Of plants new to the herbarium, collected by the botanist in person and contributed by correspondents, the number was 170. Sixty-eight of the latter (all fungi) were deemed new to science, and have therefore been named and described, and, in some cases, illustrated in the plates accompanying the pamphlet. During the year 1880 the number of plants new to the herbarium that were mounted and placed therein was 167. The number of plants new to the herbarium collected by Mr. Peck and contributed by correspondents was 98. Among these there were 38 species of fungi that were new to science. To his Thirty-third Report Mr. Peck appends an account of the New York species of Amanita, in which he has rewritten the descriptions and supplemented them with remarks upon the variations of the species, their peculiar characteristics and their distinguishing specific features. For the benefit of students of fungi, the synonyms have to some extent been given and the spore-characters cf each species added.
It is to be regretted that the scientific names of the plants (especially the new species) enumerated in these Reports were not printed in italics in order to make them more easily distinguishable from the accompanying text.
Arctostaphylos: Notes on the United States Pacific Coast Species, from recent Observations of living Plants, including a new Species (A. oppositifolia) from Lower California. — New Pants from Southern and Lower California (Rhaeelia suffrutescens, Ptelea aptera, Polygala Fishiæ and Gilia Orcutii). By C. C. Parry. 8vo, pamph., pp. 10. (From the Proceedings of Davenport Acad. Nat. Sciences.)
Notes on the Cryplogamic Flora of the White Mountains. By W. G. Taylor. 8vo. pamph., pp. 20. (From Appalachia for December, 1883.)
May, 1884, p. 58[edit]
Botanical Literature.
A Catalogue of the Native and Naturalized Plants of the city of Buffalo and its vicinity. By David F. Day. 8vo, pp. 215. Buffalo: Baker, Jones & Co. 1883.
Of purely local floras, this, presenting the names of all the plants which have been detected within a radius of fifty miles of Buffalo, may be regarded as one of the completest that has ever been published in this country. All the classes in the vegetable kingdom are included, and the number of plants enumerated, according to the tabular statement on page 190, is 2,739, which are distributed among 946 genera.
Mahonia Aquifolia as a Nurse of the Wheat Mildew (Puccinia Graminis). By C. B. Plowright. (From Proceedings of Royal Society, No. 228).
On the Life History of the Dock Æcidium (Æc. Rumias). By C. B. Plowright. (From Proceedings of Royal Society, No. 228).
The Microscopical Bulletin and Opticians Circular.
Under this title, the well-known opticians, Messrs. James W.Queen & Co., of Philadelphia, have recently begun the publication of a bi-monthly which will prove of value and interest to all microscopists, and which will no doubt be well supported by them. Sample copies will be sent to those who request them.
The Microscopic Examination of Timber with regard to its Strength. By F. M. Day. (From the Proceedings of the Amer. Philosoph. Society.)
On the Comparative Morphology of Sciadopitys. By M. T. Masters, M.D. (Reprint from the Journal of Botany).
June, 1884, p. 72[edit]
Botanical Literature.
A Manual of the Mosses of North America. By Leo Lesquereux and Thomas P. James. With Six Plates illustrating the Genera. 8vo, pp. 447. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co.
In this volume we have a manual which will be greeted by all botanists as a valuable addition to the literature of the subject, supplying a need that has long been felt. To the arduous and protracted labors of the authors, with the assistance of other eminent bryologists, both in this country and abroad, the students of this delightful branch are indebted for a most satisfactory guide. It contains 447 pages, with descriptions of nearly 900 species, includes a good glossary and is illustrated with six plates. The type is clear, and the descriptions are full and amended from the most recent investigations — corrections and additions having been made just before going to press. We notice with pleasure copious descriptions of the orders and tribes, with bibliographical references and systematic tables. The classification is that used in "Sullivant's Mosses" (Gray's Manual, 1863), with additions; the class being sub-divided into three orders, Sphagnaceæ, Andreæaceæ and Bryaceæ; the first two including one genus each, the last, 23 tribes and 126 genera. One oversight has been noticed on page 5 which contradicts the text on page 95. Eutstichia is given under the sub-division of "Teeth of the peristome 16," and, below, "fruit unknown."
The Sphagnacese are briefly described, and references are made to monographs for details. It is to be regretted that a whole plate was not devoted to them, and some of Braithwaite's excellent illustrations of the leaf- and stem-structure given, especially as the other plates, with one exception, are those used by Sullivant.
The Hypneae are given in one genus with 28 sub-genera and 195 species.
As the name implies, Alaska, British America, Greenland and the United States are included in the range of the mosses, but Mexican species are omitted, which is a disappointment, as they are to be found in Rau and Hevey's Catalogue of N. A. Mosses. However, as a description of them would have entailed a further delay, since the Mexican collections are chiefly to be found in German Herbaria, we can excuse this omission and hope to see a demand for a Bryologia Americana on the scale of the Bryologia Europæa at no distant day. — Elizabeth G. Knight.
August, 1884, p. 95[edit]
Botanical Literature.
On the Indian Species of Cyperus, with Remarks on some others that specially illustrate sub-divisions of the Genus. By Charles Baron Clarke, F.L.S., F.R.S. With four plates. Journ. Linn. Soc, xxi., 1-202.
This valuable contribution to Cyperology treats of many of our American species, based on specimens mainly by the older collectors in the Herbaria of Kew and Calcutta. Numbers of them are referred to older names than those found in our manuals, etc., and others regarded as species are reduced to varieties. The changes in nomenclature proposed by Mr. Clarke are as follows:
- C. microdontus, Torr., and var. Texensis, Torr., including C. Gatesii, Torr., are refered to C. polystachyus, L., a widely distributed species in the warmer regions of the eastern continent, under the varietal name holosericea;
- C. fugax, Liebm., of Mexico, becomes var. paniculata of the same species, and C. Nutlalii, (Eddy) Torr., becomes var. filicina, although, as Mr. Clarke remarks, it may best be regarded as a species;
- the form of the last-named plant described as C. Cleaveri by Dr. Torrey is also made a variety of C. polystachyus, var. Cleaveri;
- the original specimens from Monmquth Co., N. J., as well as recent ones collected by Mr. C. F. Parker at Cape May, N. J., with various intermediate forms between them and C, Nuttallii, indicate, as Dr. Torrey later suggested, that it is merely a depauperate form of this plant, not worthy of varietal rank.
In these reductions Mr. Clarke follows the ideas of Bœckeler.
- C. divergens, Chapm., is made C. leucolepis, Carey, MS.
- C. ambiguus, Liebm , of Mexico, becomes C. Olfersianus, Kunth.
- C. diandrus, Torr., var. castaneus, Torr., is restored to specific rank under the name C. rivularis, Kunth, a change in which we are not ready to concur.
- The C. flavicomus, Torr., Mex. Bound. Survey, is referred to C. Hochstetteri, Nees.
- C. inflexus, Muhl., is C. aristatus, Rottb., a change already noted by Mr. Watson in the Botany of California.
- C. rotundas, L., a species of tropical distribution, includes var. Hydra, Gray, Manual.
- C. esculenlus, L., is the older name for C. phymatodes, Muhl., and C. Hermannii, Buckley, (var. Hermanni, Watson) is included by Mr. Clarke.
- C. Grayii, Torr., is referred to C. setifolius, Torr., we suppose an older manuscript name, having found no such published description of the plant, though it was made a var. setifolius of C. filiculmis. — N. L. Britton.
Desmids of the United States and List of Pediastrums; with 1,100 Illustrations on 53 colored Plates. By Rev. Francis Wolle, 8vo. pp. 168. Bethlehem, Pa. 1884.
Although we have never specially studied the subject of freshwater algæ, we have more than once had occasion to consult the pages of Rabenhorst to ascertain the name of some beautiful desmid which we have observed floating in the field of the microscope, and we know from so slight an experience as this how difficult it is to identify these minute plants without the aid of accurate figures. Those many readers of the Bulletin who have, during the last few years, turned their attention to the study of these low forms of vegetable life, will heartily thank Mr. Wolle for placing at their disposal a work in which all obstacles of this nature are removed through the eleven hundred colored figures which he has given them, and which illustrate all the species and varieties that are described in the text.
The desmids, the group of fresh water algæ to which this work is specially devoted, embrace a large number of species, some of them of most exquisite forms, and the publication of a work like the one under consideration must certainly have the effect of giving a further impetus to the study of them among those who have a microscope at their command, and who desire to know more about the inhabitants of the unseen world.
As regards paper and letter-press the book is handsomely got up, the illustrations are beautifully drawn and colored, and we scarcely see how the author is able to offer the work to students at so low a price as five dollars.
Vacation Cruising in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. By J. T. Rothrock, M.D., Professor of Botany in the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1884.
It is rather late in the season to allude to this charming little book by a botanist whose name is familiar to all our readers, but it is none too late to recommend the perusal of it to those who, before many months elapse, will be laying plans for next year's vacation, and who, like our author, may have the means at their command to spend it upon the water, and in their own craft. But in making these remarks we do not mean that the reading of the book should be restricted to the class that we have just mentioned, for it is very pleasantly written, full of instruction, and will prove equally interesting to all those whose destiny compels them to while away their vacation hours upon dry land.
Nov. and Dec., 1884, p. 137[edit]
Botanical Literature.
Descriptive Catalogue of the North American Hepaticæ North of Mexico. By Lucien M. Underwood, Ph. D. Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. ii.
The appearance of a work on the Hepaticæ so soon after the publication of the Manual of N. A. Mosses will give students of the Bryophytes great assistance, and, with the author, we hope "that it may serve as a stimulus to more work in this direction, and lay in store material for a more critical examination of this group in the future." "No attempt has been made to publish new species, the writer believing that too many have already been described from insufficient data, and considering it far more necessary to set in order those already published." The catalogue therefore incorporates all of the work of C. F. Austin so far as accessible, Watson's MS. of Californian Hepaticæ and valuable information gained from Dr. Bolander, Prof. Forbes and others. There is a brief introduction on the characters, classification and bibliography, and three appendices on the geographical distribution, Lindberg's classification, and Dumortier's. The descriptions are very good, as is also the plan of giving references to descriptions and plates in other works, though a complete synonymy for each species would have been of great value. We note the omission throughout of the last n in Jungermannia. The author concludes as follows: "It is hoped that persons receiving this work will aid in further critical study of this group by communicating specimens of all forms found in their own localities." — E. G. Knight.
Check-List of North American Gamopetalæ, 8vo, pamph., pp. 43.
Under this title, Mr. H. N. Patterson, of Oquawka, Ill., has published, in convenient form for reference, a list of all the systematic names given in Dr. Gray's recently issued Synoptical Flora. It will prove of value not only as a check-list, but also as a record of the changes that have been introduced into botanical nomenclature, for consultation by those who do not possess Dr. Gray's work.
Select Extra-Tropical Plants readily eligible for industrial Culture or Naturalization, with Indications of their Native Countries and some of their Uses. By Baron Ferd. Von Mueller, K.C.M.G. 8vo., pp. 450. Detroit: George S. Davis. 1884.
This is a work which has already appeared in Victoria, New South Wales, India, and several European countries, and which is now revised and still further augmented, for the especial use of North American readers. Its object is to bring together in condensed form, and in popular languages, data concerning the characteristics and economic uses of all the principal plants, herbaceous and arboreal, that have been found to prosper in extra-tropical countries, and to point out the particular sections to which they are adapted.
At the close of the volume are grouped together all the genera enumerated in the body of the work, according to the products that they yield, thus affording facility for tracing out any series of plants regarding which special information may be sought, or which at any time may prominently engage the attention of the cultivator, the manufacturer, or the artisan. There is also an appendix in which are brought together, in index form, the various industrial plants according to their geographic distribution, so as to render it easy to order or obtain the plants of such countries as any settlers, colonists or others may be in relation with through commercial or other intercourse.
As a work of reference, this book will prove invaluable to all who are interested in economic botany.
The Fungi of Norfolk (Eng.). By Chas. B. Plowright, M.R.C.S. 8vo., pamph., pp. 21.
Catalogue of the Flora of Minnesota, including its Phænogamous and Vascular Cryptogamous Plants, indigenous, naturalized and adventive. By Warren Upham. 8vo., pp. 193. Minneapolis. 1884.
The Agricultural Grasses of the United States. By Dr. Geo. Vasey. 8vo., pp. 144. With 120 plates. Washington. 1884.
Annual Report of the Public. Gardens and Plantations [of Jamaica], for the year ending 30th September, 1883. By D. Morris, M.A., Director. 410., pamph., pp. 20. Jamaica. 1884.
First Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin, for the year 1883. 8vo., pp. 102. Madison, Wisconsin, 1884.