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REVIEWS. 
A Research on the Pines of Australia. By ae De Baise F. L. S, curator 
and economic botanist, and Henry G. Smith, F, C. S., assistant curator and 
economic chemist. With an introduction by a ae of public instruc- 
tion, J. A. Hogue. Published by the authority of the government of the 
State of New South Wales. Technical Education Series, No. 16, department 
of education, technical education branch, technological musewm, New South 
Wales. Folio. Cloth. Pp. xiv+458. 3 maps, LXXVII plates, 298 figures. 
Sydney, 1910. 
This elaborate and profusely illustrated work is one of a series (see 
No. 13 on the Eucalypts of Australia and their Essential Oils) in which 
important groups of Australian plants are considered, the effort being to 
treat them systematically, with the aid of all available sources of informa- © 
tion, whether biological or chemical. 
The Australian and Tasmanian Coniferae are considered under eleven 
genera and thirty-eight species. The genus Callitris, with eighteen 
species, receives the most extended consideration. The authors express 
the belief that this genus contains what are perhaps the oldest living 
representatives of the order. They propose to place the genera Callitris 
and Actinostrobus in close proximity to Araucaria and Agathis, 1 regard- 
ing the bracts of the cones in the first-mentioned genera as_ sterile 
sporophylls. 
The presence of a manganese compound in the wood, leaves, bark and 
lamella of Callitris and the other genera is noted. It is suggested that 
the dark-colored, glistening substance filling the so-called resin-cells in 
the secondary wood of the conifers is in reality this compound. The 
work of the authors does not seem to me to be conclusive as regards this 
point. The consistent oceurrence of manganese in various parts of 
Callitris and other Australian conifers is taken to mean that manganese 
is a necessary constituent in the production of the most complete growth 
of these species. This conclusion does not seem to the reviewer to be 
warranted. It is not sufficiently well shown that the manganese is 
beneficial. 
The taxonomy of the group is not ‘fully treated. This perhaps is due 
to the lack of literature mentioned by the authors in several places. 
There is noticeable in the. work a certain regrettable looseness in the use 
of technical terms; for example, the term “pines” is’ used in the title 
99454 —6 545 
