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THE VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DOMESTICATION.†— We have but space at present to quote from Dr. Gray's preface to the American Edition regarding this storehouse of facts, with which every naturalist, as well as agriculturist, should be acquainted.

"It is a perfect treasury of facts relative to domesticated animals and some of the more important cultivated plants; of the principles which govern the production, improvement, and preservation of breeds and races; of the laws of inheritance, upon which all organization of improved varieties depends; of the ill effects of breeding in-and-in, necessary though this be to the full development and perpetuation of a choice race or breed; and of the good effects of an occasional cross, by which, rightly managed, a breed may be invigorated or improved. These and various kindred subjects are discussed scientifically with rare ability, acuteness, and impartiality, by one who has devoted most of his life to

* The California Academy of Science (formerly California Academy of Natural Sciences) has begun to publish quarto Memoirs. Vol. I, Part 1, contains a "Catalogue of Pacific Coast Mosses," by Professor Leo Lesquereux. pp. 38.

† The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. By Charles Darwin. Authorized edition, with a Preface by Professor Asa Gray. 2 vols. 12mo, with Illustrations. New York, Orange Judd & Co., 1868. $6.00.

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this class of inquiries, and who discusses them in a way and style equally interesting and instructive to the professional naturalist or physiologist, and to the general reader. To the intelligent agriculturist and breeder, these volumes will be especially valuable, and it is in the interest of such practical men and amateurs that they are here reprinted."