128 THE PLANT WORLD. 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Elements de Paleobotanique. By R. Zeiller. Paris, 1900. 



The study of paleobotany, or fossil botany as it is often called, is 

 a subject too often neglected, not to say decried, by botanists. AVhile 

 paleontological material is often fragmentary, a vast amount of in- 

 formation has gradually been accumulated regarding the plants that 

 lived in past ages, and important light is constantly being shed on the 

 origin and development of plant life. The task of sifting and ar- 

 ranging this mass of information for general use is of such magnitude 

 that few competent persons have been found willing to undertake it. 

 Hardly half a dozen works summarizing the results of modern research 

 along these lines have been written. Professor Zeiller, than whom 

 there is hardly any one more competent, is to be congratulated upon 

 the production of this splendid text-book, which must so much to 

 place the subject in the place it deserves. Although clearly hampered 

 by lack of space, he has presented a succinct account what is now 

 known regarding the paleontological history of plants. It is arranged 

 systematically beginning with the alga?, and gives in as few words as 

 possible an account of the various groups. Botanists will do well to 

 familiarize themselves with the contents of this book. It will un- 

 doubtedly broaden the view of many who possess even a wide knowl- 

 edge of recent plants. 



This work is fully illustrated throughout, and in point of typog- 

 raphy and press work may well be taken as a model. 



F. H. K. 



