178 
Reviews and Notes on Literature. 
* 
The Study of the Biology of Ferns by the Collodion Method ; for 
Advanced Collegiate Students. By Geo. F. Atkinson, Ph. B., 
Associate Professor of Crytogamic Botany ; Cornell University, 
8vo. pp. 134, 163 figures, New York. Macmillan & Co., 1894. 
This book is designed for laboratory instruction and for refer- 
ence on the development and structure of ferns. It. consists of 
two parts; Part I. is descriptive and deals in full with the life his- 
tory of ferns; Part II. deals with methods of study. 
The descriptive portion of the work is arranged in seven chap- 
ters, six chapters being devoted to the leptosporangiate homospo- 
rous Filicinee, and one chapter to the Ophioglossee. The 
chapters on the ferns trace in detail the development, morphology — 
and anatomy of the gametophytic and sporophytic phases. The 
text is in no sense a compilation, but is written after a thorough- 3 
going and serious investigation by the author, using the collodion 
method as a means of bringing the material under contribution, 
so that in a very large measure it is written from nature revealed 
by original preparations. One unique feature of the work is the 
result of a critical examination by the author of the structure of 
the sporangium in the different orders of ferns and the dispersion 
of the spores. In the light of this study it is clearly shown that 
the customary statements regarding the extent of the annulus — 
must be modified. ae 
The illustrations are all original from camera lucida sketches, 
accompanied by a magnified micrometer scale, so that the reader — 
can at once compute the magnification. All of the illustrations © 
sections are from objects prepared by the Collodion Method, and - 
several of them from preparations made by students of the author — - 
during their ordinary laboratory work. The old method of free 
hand sectioning rendered it an extremely difficult task even for 4” : 
expert to make satisfactory sections of the delicate prothalline 
tissue. The profuse illustrations in this book, representing 5 they 
do the entire range of development, the chief features of anatomy?” 
_ and a comprehensive treatment of the structure of the sporang! 
of the different orders, are evidence of the comparative eas with 
