Quite often the reader finds himself wishing the author had stated some matter exactly rather than vaguely, e. g., germination of the oospores of Plasmopara viticola. Prillieux is probably right in maintaining that Viala has not satisfactorily determined the aetiology of Brunnisure and the California vine disease, the microscopic appearances ascribed to a Plasmodiophora being quite as likely due to the effect of strong reagents on the protoplasm of the cell. Some of the figures in this book are excellent, others are very poor. There is no index. It is to be hoped that Dr. Sorauer will now bring out another edition of his Handbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten, or at least of the 2nd volume on parasitic plants which was issued in 1886 and needs revision badly. All of these books are useful to American students, and should certainly find place on the book shelves of every vegetable pathologist. It would seem that the time is not ripe for the appearance of standard American works on this subject. There is, however, great activity in the study of plant diseases in this country, and we may look for a crop of them within the next decade.-ERWIN F. SMITH.

The Iowa University Bahama Expedition.'-The history of an educational and scientific experiment is given Mr. C. C. Nutting in this octavo volume of 251 pages. It is published as Bulletins Nos. 1 and 2, Vol. III, of the laboratories of Natural History of the Iowa State University. The zoology of the region visited is treated of in a general way with a view to giving an idea of the facies of the collections from the several localities. The marine and land invertebrata are treated of quite fully, but none of the vertebrates receive much attention excepting the birds. The beauties of marine life are graphically described, and a considerable number of illustrations add to the general excellence of the get up of the book. An appendix gives a list of commissary stores actually used during the expedition.

Mr. Nutting, in summing up the results of the expedition, draws attention to the fact that this enterprise demonstrates the practicability of accomplishing such results at a cost which is merely nominal.

The Shrews of North America.'-The tenth number in the North American Fauna series published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, contains three papers on the Shrews: A revision of the genera Blarina and Notiosorex by Dr. C. H. Merriam, a synopsis of the

The Bahama Expedition. Bulls. Nos. 1 and 2, Vol. III, Laboratories Nat. Hist. Iowa State Univ. Iowa City 1895.

North American Fauna No. 10, Washington, 1895. Comprising papers by C. Hart Merriam and G. S. Miller, Jr.

genus Sorex by the same author, and a discussion of the long-tailed Shrews of eastern United States by G. S. Miller, Jr.

In regard to the short tailed Shrews of the genus Blarina, Dr. Merriam states that up to the present time 8 valid species have been described from the United States, 2 from Mexico, 1 from Guatemala and 2 from Costa Rica. Twelve new forms are here added, 3 from the eastern United States and 9 from Mexico, making 20 members of the genus now known. The type localities are given and the geographical distribution. A complete synonomy accompanies each description.

Dr. Merriam's second paper is a synopsis of the species of Sorex, and is based on an examination of 1200 specimens. In this material were found 20 new forms which are here described. In this paper, as in the first, careful attention has been given to the synonomy.

The only genera of Soricidae included in this monograph by Dr. Merriam are Blarina Gray, Notiosorex Baird and Sorex Linn.

Mr. Miller's contribution is a study of the long tailed Shrews of the eastern United States. The author gives in detail the history of each species. The descriptions include the type locality, geographic distribution, and detailed information under the head of general remarks.

Figures of all the species described are given on 12 page plates, and they are of excellent quality. The monographs are the most important contributions to the subject that have been made, and are indispensable to the student of N. American mammalia.

Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. III.-A quarto volume containing the several reports of the geological corps, with accompanying papers of the geology of special formations and areas. The work in the southwest half of the State was done under the immediate supervision of Dr. Keyes who contributes three papers on the geology of that section, and also one on the glacial scorings in Iowa. Mr. Calvin discusses the composition and origin of the Iowa Chalk. The Paleozoic strata in the northeastern part of the State, and certain Carboniferous and Devonian outliers in the eastern region are reported upon by Mr. Norton. The Cretaceous deposits of the Sioux Valley by Mr. Bain and certain buried River Channels by Mr. Gordon. The illustrations include 37 plates, a number of maps, and 34 figures in the text. We are glad to learn that the survey is in a prosperous condition, and hope that its work will be appreciated at its true worth by the State authorities.

Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. III. companying papers. Des Moines, 1895.

Second Annual Report, 1895, with ac

Duration of Niagara Falls and History of the Great Lakes. This work contains the researches of the author which have been published in America and Europe, on the Origin of the Great Lake Basins; Changes of Continental Altitudes; Deformation of Beaches; Glacial Dams; Births of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, etc.; Changes of River Courses; and the History and Duration of Niagara Falls. It is one of the most important works on geological science that has been produced in this or any other country as an original research. It furnishes a standard of estimation of postglacial history for this continent, which must always be referred to in all questions relating to the antiquity of man, as well as those relating to the present distribution of land and water.

One

The text is fully illustrated with maps, section drawings, etc. of the fine page plates which accompany the work is a reproduction from a camera obscura drawing made by Henry Ransford in 1832, the oldest accurate picture of the Falls known to the author.

The author estimates that the period which has elapsed since the falls were at Lake Ontario amounts to 32000 years.

Korean Games."-In pursuance of a theory that games must be regarded as survivals from primitive conditions, under which they originated in magical rites and chiefly as a means of divination, Mr. Stewart Culin has made an extensive study of the games of Korea. He finds that there were two principal systems of divination in Eastern Asia from which games arose, in both of which the arrow or its substitute was employed as the implement of magic. Of the 97 games described in his book, 23 are directly connected with some such use of the A large number of the other games described consist of athletic sports ceremonially practiced in the sacred pavilions of Korea, and like the divatory tugofwar, still retain traces of their primeval divinatory character.

arrow.

The illustrations are almost entirely by native artists, and they give the book a value altogether unique. They comprise 22 colored plates and 135 figures in the text. The subject is a very curious one, and as treated by Mr. Culin, it becomes an important guide to the history of human migrations and human thought.

The Duration of Niagara Falls and the History of the Great Lakes. W. Spencer. New York, Humboldt Publishing Co.

By J.

Korean Games. With Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan. By Stewart Culin. Philadelphia, 1895.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Administrative Reports of the Iowa Geol. Survey, Vol. IV, 1894. From the

Survey.

ALLEN, J. A.—On a Collection of Mammals from Arizona and Mexico made by Mr. W. W. Price, with Field Notes by the Collector. Extr. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII, 1895. From the author.

Announcement of the Completion of Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language. From the Pub.

BEECHER, C. E.—Structure and Appendages of Trinucleus. Extr. Am. Journ. Sci., Vol. XLIX, 1895. From the author.

BOAZ, F.-Chinook Texts. Pub. by the Bureau of Ethnology. Washington, 1894. From the Smithsonian Institution.

BOULE, M.-Sur des Débris d'Arthropleura. Extr. Industrie Minérale (3) VII, 1893. From the author.

BROOKS, W. K.-In Inherent Error in the views of Galton and Weismann on Variation. Extr. Science, 1895. From the author.

BROOM, R.-On the Significance of the Proliferated Epithelium in the Foetal Mammalian Jaw. Extr. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) XV, 1895. From the author.

BRYSON, J.-The Ups and Downs of Long Island. Extr. Am. Geol., 1895. Bulletin No. 31, 1895, Agric. Exper. Station Rhode Island College Agric. and Mechanic Arts.

Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission Vol. XIII, for 1893. Washington, 1894. From the Fish Commission.

Bulletin No. 27, 1895, Iowa Agric. College Experiment Station.

Bulletin No. 110, 1894, North Car. Agric. Exper. Station.

COVILLE, F. V.—Directions for collecting Specimens and Information illustrating the Aboriginal uses of Plants. Part J of Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., No. 39. Washington, 1895. From the Smithsonian Institution.

Cox, E. S.-The Albion Phosphate District.
-Geological Sketches of Florida.
From the author.

Extr. Trans. Min. Engineers, 1895.

EASTMAN, C. R.-Beiträge zur Kenntuis der Gattung Oxyrhina mit besenderer Berücksichtigung von Oxyrhina mantelli Agassiz, Aus Palaeontographica, XLI Bd. Stuttgart, 1894. From the author.

EISEN, G.-Memoirs of the California Acad. Sci., Vol. II, No. 4, 1895. Pacific Coast Oligochaeta. From the author.

Final Report of the Geology of Minnesota, Vol. III, Pt. I, Paleontology. From N. H. Winchell, State Geologist.

FOWKE, G.-Archaeological Investigations in the James and Potomac Valleys. Pub. by the Bureau of Ethnology. Washington, 1894. From the Smithsonian Institution.

GILBERT, G. K.-Notes on the Gravity Determinations reported by Mr. G. R. Putnam. Extr. Philos. Soc., Washington Bull., Vol. XIII, 1895. From the author.

GILBERT, C. K. AND F. P. GULLIVER.-Tepee Buttes. Amer., Vol. 6, 1895. From the Soc.

Extr. Bull. Geol. Soc.

HAECKEL, E.-Confessions of Faith of a Man of Science. Translated by Mr. J. Gilchrist. London, 1894. From the author.

HALL, C. W. AND F. W. SARDESON.-The Magnesian Series of the Northwestern States. Extr. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 6, 1895. From the Soc.

KINGSBURY, B. F.-The Histological Structure of the Enteron of Necturus maculatus. Extr. Proceeds. Amer. Microscop. Soc., 1894. From the author.

Laboratory Studies of the Oregon State Agric. College, Vol. I, No, 1. From F. L. Washburn.

ica.

MASON, O. T.-Migration and Food Quest. A Study in the Peopling of Amer

MERRILL, G. P.-Directions for collecting Rocks and for the Preparation of Thin Sections. Extr. Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., No. 39. Washington, 1895. From the Smithsonian Institution.

-Stones for Building and Decoration. New York, 1891.

MONACO, A. DE.—Sur les premières campagnes scientifiques de la “Princess Alice." Extr. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Acad. Sci. t. CXX, 1895. From the author.

Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences for the 43d Meeting, 1894.

Report of the American Humane Association on Vivisection and Dissection in Schools. Chicago, 1895. From the Assoc.

Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1891-92, Vols 1 and 2.

RIES, H.-On a Granite Diorite from Harrison, Westchester Co., New York. Extr. Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XIV, 1895. From the author.

SALOMON, W.-Geologische und paleontologische Studien über die Marmolata (mit Ausschluss der Gastropoden). Paleontographica, Zweiundvierstiger Bd. Erste bis dritte Lief. Stuttgart, 1895.

SCHUCHERT, C.-Directions for Collecting and Preparing Fossils. Pt. K. Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., No. 39. Washington, 1895. From the Smithsonian Institution.

SCHWATT, I. J.-A Geometrical Treatment of Curves which are Isogonal conjugate to a straight line with respect to a triangle, Pt. I. Boston, New York and Chicago, 1895. From the author.

SEELEY, H. G.-Note on the Skeleton of Pariasaurus bainii. Extr. Geol. Mag., London, Dec. IV, Vol. II, 1895.--The Thecodontosaurus and Paleosaurus.— -On the type of the Genus Massospondylus, and on some Vertebrae and Limb bones of M. (?) brownii. Extrs. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) XV, 1895.— On Hortalotarsus skirtopodus, a new Saurischian Fossil from Barkly East, Cape Colony.

SEELIGER, H.-Ueber allgemeine Probleme der Mechanik des Himmels. Rede gehalten in der öffentlichen Sitzung der k. b. Akad. der Wiss. zu München, Mär 31, 1892. From the author.

SHUFELDT, R. W.-Lectures on Biology delivered before the Roman Catholic University of America, 1892. From the author.

STEFANESCU, G.-L'Age du Conglomerate de Sacel, Jud. Gorjiu. Extr. Bull. Soc. Geol. de France (3), t. XXII, 1894. From the author.