Reviews. 129 REVIEWS.

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1 Reviews. 129 temperature the denitrifying bacteria arc stimulated to great activity, so that a large amount of nitrogen is set free into the atmosphere, thus leaving only a small quantity of nitrogen compounds available for vegetable use in the warmer regions of the ocean. No direct observations, however, have been made on this important matter, and it is very probable that a number of factors combine to bring about the result. A list is appended of some of the more important papers bearing on the subject discussed. Bnur, E. t)bcr zwei denitrifiziereiule nakterien nus den Ostsec. Wisscii. Mecresunteisuchungeii, Abt. Kiel, VI., 1902, p. 9. RraiicU, K. Uber den Stoffweclisel ini Meere, Wissen. Meeresunters. Abt. Kiel, IV., 1899, p. 215, VI. 1902, p. 25. Henecke, \V., u. Keutner, J. Ober stickstoffbindende Bakterien aus Ostsee. Ber. d. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. XXI., 1903, p Grnn, H. Studien iiber Meeresbakterien. Bergens Museums Aarbog, Ucinke, J. Zur Erniihrungder Meeres-Organisnien disponibile Quellen nn Stickstoff. Ber. d. Deutsch Bot. Ges. XXI., 1903, p V.H.B. REVIEWS. A Maiiunl and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns. By J. C. Willis, M.A., Director of the Roynl Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, etc. SKCOND KnrriON, revised and rearranged in one voluiue. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Biological Series), Price ios. 6d. net. WE welcome a new edition of this useful book. The two parts (Part I., " Outlines of the Morphology, Natural History, Classification, Geographical Distribution and Economic Uses of the Flowering Plants and Ferns" ; and Part 11., a kind of Cyclopaedia of classes, cohorts, orders and chief genera) are now included in one compact crown octavo volume, which, owing to the judicious use of small type and abbreviations, only extends to 670 pages, and is not impossible (thanks to the thinness of the paper) for the sidepocket. At the same time a large amount of new material has been added, and controversial matter omitted. The introductory chapter gains greatly by the addition of a section on the aims of " General Field Work " and of very practical notes on outfit, collecting, preserving and recording, which are evidently the fruit of the author's personal experience in the Tropics.

2 130 Reviews. Part I. has been much improved, and its 200 pages contain an extraordinary amount of varied, accurate, and wonderfully condensed information on morphology, natural history and classification, treated throughout from a thoroughly modern evolutionary standpoint. Many of the sections, indeed, contain by far the best accounts of their respective topics to be found in the English language. The sections on the natural history of the flower, on the principles of classification, on evolution, and on geographical distribution, etc. may be especially mentioned for their excellence. The whole forms a reference work on these subjects that cannot fail to be of great use to travellers and others interested in plants, and also to regular botanical students. At the same time the treatment is too condensed to be altogether suitable as an actual textbook for the student, except under the guidance of a competent teacher. Of details very few seem open to serious criticism. Surface characters, not internal structure, are the best criterion of the limit between hypocotyl and primary root (p. 37). Enough stress is scarcely laid on the methods of reduction prevailing in the evolution of the flower (p. 69), and in this connexion Cclakovsky's view of the androecium of Fumaria, Capparidacea: and Crucifcrae should at least have been mentioned, since it is much more in accord with the general modern principles of floral morphology than the "chorisis" theory (pp. 70, 333, 416). The term " ecology " is employed in a wider sense than usual, as equivalent to " natural history " or " Bionomics." We think this a pity, since a word is wanted to express those relations of a plant to its surroundings dependent on what may be called "topographical" factors. Mr. Willis may be warmly congratulated on what is now a thoroughly excellent book. The typography and get-up are admirable, and the price cannot be complained of when we consider the enormous amount the book contains. The Classification of Flowering Plants. By Alfred Barton Rendle, M.A., D.Sc, IM<.S., Assistant in the Department of Botany, British Museuui, etc. Vol. r, Oymuosperms and Mouocotyledons. Cauibridge University Press (Cnmbridge Biological Series), Pp. XIV. and 403. Price ios. 6d. net. It is with pleasure that we open a book in English on systematic botany that is not a translation from the German. Dr. Rendle's

3 Reviews. 131 aim is " to give the student who has some acquaintance with the rudiments of botany a systematic account of the Flowering plants," the present volume dealing with Gymnosperms and Monocotyledons. As is indicated in the preface, the view that the Gymnosperms and Angiosperms are really parallel expressions of successful adoption of the seed-habit (which we now have reason to believe was at one time widely spread among the Pteridophytes) has of late years become very widely held; and there now seems very little reason why the Gymnosperms and Angiosperms should be treated side by side in one work. We suppose the discovery ofthe " Pteridosperms " is too recent for any account of them to appear in a work which has evidently been in course of elaboration for some time, but it is a pity that the allusion in the preface should be practically contradicted by the categorical statement at the head of Chap. II. on " Spermatophytes " (p. 32): " The Flowering Plants are characterised bythe fo rmation of a.seed, a structure not found in the remaining groups, known collectively as Cryptogams." There is an excellent " Historical Introduction " in which the gradual development of the natural system of classification is traced and the different features characterising the various schemes clearly pointed out. We should, however, have been glad of a statement and criticism of Bessey's suggested system (Bot. Gazette, Vol. 24, 1897) and also a fuller account of the relation of Eichler's and Engler's systems to previous ones. The systematic part of the book is ably and clearly written, and will be most useful to students. It may be doubted whether the rather full details of ovule-pollen and embryo-development are quite in place in a work devoted to classification rather than morphology, especially since they have recently received even fuller treatment at the hands of Messrs. Coulter and Chamberlain ; and we should have welcomed instead a discussion and illustration of the principles of classification, a subject far too much neglected in current text-books. The relation of the Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons is left with the remark that " it is at present impossible to say what is the actual degi-ee of relationship between them." This is no doubt true, but Dr. Rendle's discussion of this vexed question would have been interesting and valuable, as is his "General Review" of the Monocotyledons, in which we have an able sketch of the characters and probable relationships of the different " series " or cohorts,

4 132 Reviews. It is interesting to note that Dr. Rendle, like Messrs. Coulter and Chamberlain, is not of those who think it necessary to interpret nearly all cases of simplicity in floral structure as examples of reduction. The illustrations are not very numerous, but have been selected with considerable skill. There are quite a number representing germination-stages (mostly from Lubbock's " Seedlings") and these are very welcome. We congratulate Dr. Rendle on helping to remove the reproach that our advanced students have to learn their botany from foreign text-books and we look forward for his second part. We could have wished that it might have been found possible to publish the book at a lower price. The high prices of text-books, now that it is absolutely essential for students to have a number of different books dealing with different parts of the subject, is a serious barrier to the wide diffusion of new works, though the publications of the Cambridge Press are by no means the worst examples. We feel sure that the experiment of publication at lower prices would find its justification in greatly increased sales. n. MADLnv. piuntr.r, whitriei.d stnr.r.t. LONUON, \V.

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