Dr. Kirchner's book deals with diseases due both to animal and vegetable parasites. Its statements are reasonably accurate and it is so arranged as to greatly facilitate identification of diseases.

trations.

No illus

Dr. Comes' book contains quite a full account of some parasitic diseases and brief mention of many others. It was the first book of its kind to pay much attention to bacterial diseases of plants. Its statements are frequently inaccurate and the 17 plates illustrating fungi and fungous diseases are poorly executed and add nothing to the value of the book.

Prof. Ward's little book is by far the best thing in English. It discusses only a few diseases and all of these in a very elementary, popular way, but there are many interesting suggestions, and the facts which are given are usually stated accurately. There are 53 text figures and a brief index. A book of about the same size and style by the same author, on Timber and Some of its Diseases, (1889) makes a good companion volume.

Dr. Ludwig's book is uneven in its make up, some parts being quite free from erroneous statements and others, those dealing presumably with the subjects least familiar to the author, needing careful revision. The book certainly deserves a second edition. From the pains taken to say something about everything, it is perhaps more generally useful than any of the preceding or than the following work.

Dr. Tubeuf's book is very attractive. The type is large and clear, and the unhackneyed character of the illustrations, many of which were prepared expressly for this work, is especially commendable. The treatment of certain subjects indicates that the author depended upon imperfect reviews rather than on the original papers, e. g., Wakker's bacterial disease of hyacinths, and Mayer's mosaic disease of tobacco; but the book as a whole has not been read carefully enough to warrant any extended criticism.

Dr. Frank's book is the second revised edition of his well known handbook, Die Krankheiten der Pflanzen, published in 1880, and now sadly out of date. Much new matter has been added and an earnest effort made to bring the subject up to date. This has succeeded as well, perhaps, as the rapidly growing state of the science will admit. The first volume deals with non-parasitic diseases; the second with fungous parasites. Most of the figures appear to be old, and the letter press is indifferent.

Dr. Prillieux's book is attractive in appearance, but some of it is sketchy and rather unsatisfactory, and due credit is not always given.

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.

2 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.3—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.

The text is fully illustrated with maps, section drawings, etc. One 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.