REVIEWS 351 



technical terms, for in this case they are absolutely essential to a comprehension 

 of the homologies between higher and lower plants, but has given clear and full 

 definitions of all the terms used. There are no facts or theories here which are 

 not to be found in any good modern general text-book of botany, but nowhere 

 have we seen these facts and theories presented in such a simple and skilful 

 manner. The author has adopted the commonsense method of treating the 

 evolution of sex in plants in relation to the progressive adaptation of plants to life 

 on land, leaving aside all those difficult and abstruse questions connected with sex 

 origin and sex differentiation which are still under close study and are the topics 

 of equally active controversy. The result is a pleasantly written and therefore 

 easily read little book, which certainly realises the intention of the series to which 

 it belongs — to be serviceable " not only for the specialist but also for the educated 

 layman." It will abundantly meet the needs of the latter class of reader, while as 

 to the former we can but say that students of botany will find in it many interesting 

 suggestions which may be profitably followed up, besides being helped and 

 stimulated by the author's skilful presentation of principles which are apt to 

 become obscure in the mass of detail encountered in the study of the evolution 

 of plants. 



The price of this little book seems somewhat high, for we have grown 

 accustomed to pay one-fourth as much for books belonging to series of similar 

 scope and intention. However, price is not everything, and if the forthcoming 

 volumes in the series of which this is the first to be published (" University of 

 Chicago Science Series ") are of the same type, namely, dealing in a similar 

 manner with a topic not covered by any other book published at a moderate price 

 (and this certainly applies to the other botanical books announced for the series), 

 they will meet with success even if it is not found possible to issue them at the 

 modest price of one shilling, as in the case of the well-known " Cambridge 

 Manuals of Science and Literature " or the " Home University Library." 



F. Cavers. 



AGRICULTURE 



Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Tropical Agriculture. 



Held at the Imperial Institute, London, June 23 to 30, 1914. Edited by 

 the Honorary Secretaries. [Pp. xi + 407.] (London : John Bale, Sons & 

 Danielsson, Ltd., 1914.) 



Even in the old days before the war it needed an optimistic spirit to conduct an 

 international conference, and when the subject of that conference was Tropical 

 Agriculture, the spirit had need to be invincible. Ordinary agriculture is not a 

 subject in itself, but a blend of many subjects, ranging from the purest pure science 

 to the most hard-headed business. Tropical agriculture in its present stage of 

 development has less science and more politics in its composition. The papers 

 in these Proceedings range quite legitimately from sun-power engines to malaria. 

 It is a very wide field, and our sympathy goes out to the plea for more specialisa- 

 tion in the matter of publications made by Mr. W. R. Dunlop (p. 384). The 

 difficulty appears to have been felt acutely in this Third Congress, and some 

 valuable suggestions are made in the report of the closing session by M. Leplae, 

 the Belgian delegate, towards so organising future conferences that free discussion 

 might be possible. 



Under the circumstances of international disorganisation which followed this 

 Conference at the short interval of five weeks only, we are grateful for obtaining 

 any report at all ; otherwise we should object that such a volume ought to con- 



