158 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



years ago. Since then the improvement of plants and 

 animals lias lost much of its hap-hazard and rule-of-thumb 

 methods and is now proceeding with something of scientific 

 accuracy. Evolution and inheritance, however, are rather 

 complex, and the terminology of the subject has also ad- 

 vanced at a rapid pace, so that the necessity for explanatory 

 texts has become more and more apparent. A step toward 

 supplying the lack has been made by John M. Coulter and 

 Merle C. Coulter with a little book bearing the title "Plant 

 Genetics," put out by the University of Chicago Press. After 

 a discussion of the earlier theories of heredity and the inheri- 

 tance of acquired characteristics, seven chapters are 'devoted to 

 different phases of the workings of Mendel's Law. Then come 

 chapters on parthenogenesis, inheritance in gametophytes, self 

 sterility and related subjects. The nature of the work is such 

 that a comprehensive idea of it cannot be given in this notice, 

 but its value to botanists will be apparent when it is known that 

 it approaches the subject from the plant side, while most of the 

 other texts emphasize the animal side. It is clearly and in- 

 telligibly written and is further illuminated by forty diagrams 

 and sketches. It is well worth a reading by all who aspire to 

 keep in touch with this important phase of botany. The price is 

 $1.50 net. 



