BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



The Fungi which cause Plant Disease. — Among the multitude 

 of books now appearing in all branches of botanical science it is rather 

 rare to find one which meets a very definite need and meets it so well 

 as Stevens' recent manual.^ Heretofore we have had no book which 

 has attempted to describe in a scientific manner the fungi which cause 

 the diseases of our cultivated plants. Massee's Text Book of Fungi 

 is much more limited in the number of species described and perhaps 

 a little more extensive in the discussion of some of the larger groups 

 than the manual under consideration, while Tubeuf and Smith's Dis- 

 eases of Plants is scarcely more a manual of fungi than is Duggar's 

 Fungous Diseases of Plants. Moreover the first two of those mentioned 

 above apply to conditions in our country only in a general way. Hence 

 a long felt Want has been supplied. The title of the book is justified 

 by its contents even if perhaps we might at first be led to expect that 

 a larger number of species would be described. 



It is evident from the opening sentence of the preface that the volume 

 is intended to be limited to fungi which affect economic plants, yet in 

 many instances sufficient reference is made to genera or even species 

 of small economic importance to enable one to make use of the book 

 in a study of those forms. Convenient keys are introduced to aid in 

 the tracing of species, genera, families and larger groups and the classi- 

 fications used are well chosen from the more widely accepted systems. 

 The illustrations which represent nearly every genus described, and 

 often several species from one genus, are helpful and tend to clarify 

 doubtful points rather than becloud them as so often happens where 

 "pictures" are introduced. A most valuable asset is the large number 

 of references introduced supporting the statements made. The group- 

 ing of these at the ends of the large groups of fungi is a satisfactory 

 arrangement. There is a total of over fifteen hundred references to 

 articles, and over seventy-five titles of books and magazines useful in 

 pathological work. Another device for convenience wiiich could well 

 be copied by many authors, is the constant cross reference by page 

 numbers not only from the keys to the descriptions but also in the re- 

 verse direction to the keys where the name of the group first appears. 



^Stevens, F. L., The fungi which causes plant disease. Pp. 754, figs. 449. 

 New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913. 



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