calities and details are never all, and are seldom a prominent feature. A lesson of general application is to be drawn in each of them, and is drawn and presented with such directness and lucidity that even young students can comprehend it and be interested in it. The essays in the second volume are more extended discussions of special topics, among which are "The Longevity of Trees," "The Sequoia and its History," "Do Varieties wear out, or tend to wear out?" "Forest Geology and Archæology," "The Pertinacity and Predominance of Weeds," and two on the flora of North America. Many of these papers, as well as no small number of the "Reviews," had not Prof. Gray been so preeminently a man of science, might have established his reputation as a literary essayist of the first rank. In some of them the author co-operates with Heer and De Saporta, anticipating the chief publications of the latter author, in working out the theory of the arctic origin of the plants of the temperate zone. "Notes on a Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina" is a letter to Hooker, recording the experiences and observations acquired in a visit to a region which was of peculiar interest at the time, and is equally so now, on account of the number and variety of rare plants to be found there. This excursion seems to have been an exception to the general course of Prof. Gray's life; for, in an address at the American Association meeting in 18*72, on "The Sequoia and its History," when he had just visited a unique botanical region in California, he says that, so far as our country was concerned, he had been to a great extent a closet botanist, and had not before seen the Mississippi or set foot upon a prairie. Through all of these papers Prof. Gray's style is clear; he goes directly for the point; is judicially minded; always at home, searching in criticism; and sometimes, as when dealing with Mr. Ruskin or exposing an error of the authors on whom Henfrey relics, keen in sarcasm. And the editor's observation that "his reviews represented the opinion of a just and discriminating mind, thoroughly familiar with all sides of the question before it, critical rather than laudatory, loving the truth and its investigators, but the truth above everything else," is fully borne out.
Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1884-'85. By J. W. Powell, Director. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. lviii + 675.
It is impossible to examine one of these handsome volumes without being deeply impressed by the extent of the work that is being done and the interest of the store of information that is being secured by this bureau. The report of the director states that the field-work of the year comprised mound explorations by several assistants under the charge of Prof. Cyrus Thomas; researches in the ancient ruins of the Southwest by parties in charge of Mr. James Stevenson and Mr. Victor Mindeleff; linguistic field-work by Mrs. Erminnic A. Smith, Mr. H. W. Henshaw, Mr. A. S. Gatschet, Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, and Mr. Jeremiah Curtin. General ethnological investigations in the field were carried on by Dr. Washington Matthews, Dr. H. C. Yarrow, and Dr. W. J. Hoffman. Office work on sign-language and pictographs was continued by Colonel Garrick Mallery; on bibliography of North American languages, by Mr. James C. Pilling; on the myths and customs of the Zuñi, by Mr. Frank H. Cushing; on ceramics, by Mr. W. H. Holmes; on a historical atlas of Indian concessions, by Mr. Charles C. Royce; and by the explorers above mentioned, on their several specialties, when not engaged in field-work. The first of the papers accompanying the report is on "Ancient Art of the Province of Chiriqui, Colombia," by William H. Holmes, and is based on the large collection of archaeologic material from the province in the National Museum. The paper contains a wealth of information in regard to the works of the ancient inhabitants of this interesting region, and its descriptions are assisted by 286 illustrations. A curious feature of the Chiriquian objects buried with the dead is that they appear to have been made for that purpose, and not for use by the living. Another paper by Mr. Holmes is "A Study of the Textile Art in its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament." Mr. Holmes gives an instructive analysis of the forces and influences inherent in the textile art, the first lessons of which are order, uniformity, and symmetry. He discusses the influence of textile ornament upon other forms of art, such as architect-
