Early  Journal  Content  on  JSTOR,  Free  to  Anyone  in  the  World  

This  article  is  one  of  nearly  500,000  scholarly  works  digitized  and  made  freely  available  to  everyone  in  the  world  by  JSTOR.    

Known  as  the  Early  Journal  Content,  this  set  of  works  include  research  articles,  news,  letters,  and  other  writings  published  in  more  than  200  of  the  oldest  leading  academic  journals.  The  works  date  from  the  mid-­‐seventeenth  to  the  early  twentieth  centuries.    

 We  encourage  people  to  read  and  share  the  Early  Journal  Content  openly  and  to  tell  others  that  this  resource  exists.    People  may  post  this  content  online  or  redistribute  in  any  way  for  non-­‐commercial  purposes.  

Read  more  about  Early  Journal  Content  at  http://about.jstor.org/participate-­‐jstor/individuals/early-­‐journal-­‐content.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JSTOR  is  a  digital  library  of  academic  journals,  books,  and  primary  source  objects.  JSTOR  helps  people  discover,  use,  and  build  upon  a  wide  range  of  content  through  a  powerful  research  and  teaching  platform,  and  preserves  this  content  for  future  generations.  JSTOR  is  part  of  ITHAKA,  a  not-­‐for-­‐profit  organization  that  also  includes  Ithaka  S+R  and  Portico.  For  more  information  about  JSTOR,  please  contact  support@jstor.org.  

370 THE AMERICAN NA TURALIST. [VOL. XXXIJ.

polypyrzgcenes, Rondele/ia combsii, Calesbaea Pania, Atiaslrachia nor1/ro- piaunr, T-Zbebiiia pelrop/ilca, and C/doris eleusiioidles, var. veslila, are new. In addition to the enumeration of the species, full notes on the abun- dance and character of the soil on which the plants occurred are given. (Ecologically, the flora may be divided into seven regions: (i) the maritime, (2) the river bottoms, (3) inland swamps or "cieneuas," (4) upland woods, (5) the mountain regions, (6) the savannahs or wooded grass lands, and (7) a kind of arid, desert-like region. Each region has many typical plants. These regions, how- ever, grade into each other; some plants occur in one or more regions. The orders Leguminosoe, Compositoe, Rubiaceo, Euphorbi- acece, Malvaceze, and Graminex lead in point of numbers, and it is probable that the Graminex and Cyperace are more numerous than given in the catalogue, and that the number could be considerably augmented by another season's collecting. It is to be hoped that Mr. Combs may again visit this region. The catalogue is, however, a representative one, since the collecting was done during both the dry and the wet season, the dry season, when Composite are most abundant, corresponding to our winter. The determinations were made by J. M. Greenman, of Cambridge, who is well qualified to speak on the Cuban flora, having previously studied the Northrop collection. The paper contains the vernacular Spanish names, and these are quite numerous because of the many uses that Cubans make of the native plants for medicinal purposes. Mr. Combs has further given a short account of Cuban medical plants in another paper.' - L. H. PAMMEL.

Central American Botany. - Captain J. Donnell Smith, who for a number of years has been concentrating his energy on the Central American flora, publishes his twentieth installment of descriptions of new plants from Guatemala and other Central American republics in the Boltauic& Gazelle for March. One new genus, Prosthecidis- cus, of the Asclepiadaceo, is characterized and well figured.

Epiphyllous Flowers. - The knowledge of this unusual type of inflorescence, summarized by C. de Candolle 2 and Gravis 3a few years since, is enriched by a study of C/ti-iba, lamosa conducted under the direction of Professor Warming, of the Copenhagen Uni-

1 Some Cuban Medical Plants. Pha/crmaceutical Review, 15: 87-9I, 109-II2,

I36, i897- 2 Ale'nm. Soc. de Pagys. et d'Hist. Aat. de Geizeve, i890, suppl. vol. 3 Comojtes Reend. Soc. Roy. de Bot. de Belg., i89i.

No. 377.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 371

versity, by C. E. Boldt, the results of which appear in the Videnzs- kabelizre Medde/eleser for i897 of the Natural History Society of that city.

Forest Trees.-Professor ]i3sgen, of the Eisenach Forestry School, has recently published a handbook of information concern- ing- the structure and life processes of forest trees,' which are con- sidered as to their winter aspect, the causes of their forms, buds, tissues, wood and bark structure, annual or growth rings, formation of heart wood, leaves, root activity, uses and source of water and mineral matters, metabolism and the transportation of food, fructi- fication and germination. The illustrations, many of which are original, contribute materially to the elucidation of the subjects dis- cussed. T.

The Work of Aldrovandus. In December last the city of Bologna celebrated the opening of a hall commemorative of one of her first botanists, and the proceedings on that occasion, accom- panied by an analysis of his works, form an attractive octave pam- phlet 2 which has recently been published.

Botanical Notes. -The volume of 7)-ansactions of tihe /alsas AcadeImy of Science for i895-96, issued in the early part of the pres- ent year, contains the following papers on botany: " Additions to the Grasses of Kansas," by A. S. Hitchcock; " Additions to the Flora of Kansas," by B. B. Smyth; "The Propagation of Erythroniums," by E. B. Knerr; and " A Provisional List of the Flowering Plants of McPherson County," by H. J. Harnly.

Dr. B. L. Robinson brings together, in the Botanical Gazelte for March, notes extending the range of several North American species of Caryophyllaceoe which have come to his notice since the publica- tion of the last fascicle of the Synooptical Flora, and adds to the flora two new species (Stellaia oxjliylla and S. zoas/zingloniana, both from the Northwest), and two (Arenaria idigiriosa and Dr;ynaaria cordat) previously described from without our range.

Under the title of " Contributions to Western Botany, No. 8 " unfortunately without evident indication of place of publication

1 Biisgen, M. Ban und Leben unzsrer Wica/dbd-ume. Jena, Fischer, I897. SvO, viii + 230 pp., IOO ills.

2 Mattirolo, 0. L'OOpera botanica di Ulisse AidSDovalzdi (I 549-I605). Bologna, Fratelli Merlani, I897. Svo, xxx + I37 pp., with portrait.