524 The Ohio Naturalist [Vol. XV, No. 7, 



"Plant Breeding"^ by Professor L. H. Bailey has been 

 revised and brought up to date by Professor A. W. Gilbert of Cor- 

 nell University. The book as it now appears is a great improve- 

 ment over previous editions. One of its very commendable 

 features in Appendix E which gives specific directions for labora- 

 tory and field work. Altho quite thoroly revised there are still 

 some of the ear marks of the old views left which do not always 

 coincide with the newer ones. It would perhaps have been 

 better to have written an entirely new book. 



There are a few errors which might have been avoided if the 

 copy had been read more closely. On page 112, pumpkin is given 

 as Cucurbita pepo and the squash as Cucurbita maxima, while 

 on page 129 squashes are said to be Cuciu-bita pepo. 



It is very unfortunate that pollen-grains are contrasted with 

 eggs cells, as if the word pollen-grain were synonymous with sperm 

 cell. Such a mistake in terminology, as has been pointed out by 

 various writers, can only lead to confusion. Some gymnosperms 

 have as high as 16 sperms in the male gametophyte. Each one 

 of the two sperms of the pollen grain of angiospemis has a separate 

 effect in heredity, one going to fertilize the egg and the other 

 uniting with the two polar nuclei. How could one possibly 

 make clear the checkered arrangement of the endospenn of hybrid 

 com, if no distinction is made between a male gametophyte of 

 three cells and the single cell of a true spemiatozoid ? 



When it conies to a matter of plant genetics no middle ground 

 is possible; the old morphological terminology is false, as it was 

 invented when fundamentally erroneous notions were held in 

 regard to many of the essential structures of plants. 



What we need, is to follow the terminology of modem cytolog- 

 ists and morphologists and all confusion will be avoided. 

 J. H. S. 



1. Plant Breeding, by L. H. Bailey. New edition revised by Arthur 

 W. Gilbert, Ph. D., professor of plant-breeding, in the New York State 

 College of Agriculture at Cornell University. Pp. xviii-1-474; 113 illus. The 

 Rural Science Series (edited by L. H. Bailey); The Macmillan Company, 

 New York, 1915. Price $2.00 net. 



Date of Publication, May 10, 1915. 



