304 PALEOBOTANY [BoT. Absts., Vol. VIII, 



dent origin late in geologic time. The complex wood of seed plants of the Cordaitean plexus 

 in Devonian time is ignored. The stages in the evolution of steles are considered to be from 

 a monarch type consisting of a single protoxylem group and formed by the simultaneous 

 modification of a set of procambial elements, occurring independently in the axis and branches. 

 Second, by the substitution of continuous for purely initial transformation; and third, by 

 the formation of secondary cambium and secondary wood. — E. W. Berry. 



2087. Benson, W. N., W. vS. Dun, and W. R. Browne. Part IX. The geology, palaeon- 

 tology and petrography of the Currabubula district, with notes on adjacent regions. B. Palae- 

 ontology, including Chapman, F. Appendix. Lower Carboniferous limestone fossils. Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. New South Wales 45: 337-374. PL 18-24, fig. 10-17. 1920.— Mention is made of 

 leaf impressions of Rhacopteris, Aneimites, and Archaeocalamites , and descriptions are given 

 of 2 sets of silicified plant remains. Lawson is credited with the descriptions. Chapman 

 also reports the presence of the thread-like thallus of a species of Girvanella (Cyanophyceae) 

 in oolitic limestone from the Lower Carboniferous. Besides the fine tube of the thallus he 

 observed here and there indications of strings of minute globular cells (probably repro- 

 ductive). — Eloise Gerry. 



2088. Carpentier, A. Notes Paleophytologiquessur leWestphaliendu Nordde la France. 

 [Paleophytological notes on the Westphalien of the north of France.] Ann. Soc. G^ol. Nord. 

 44: 137-150. Fig. 3, pi. 2. 1920. — Five sigillarias including 2 hew varieties, 1 lepidodendron, 

 4 ferns including a new Taeniopteris (?), and a seed called A? ewropierocarpus which is associated 

 with the fronds of N europteris rarinervis, are described from the Westphalian stage (Carbonif- 

 erous) of the Departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais in France. — E. W . Berry. 



2089. Fritel, p. H. Sur la presence des genres Phragmites Trin. et Nephrodium L. 

 C Rich, dans les argiles pleistocenes de Benenitra (Madagascar). [On the presence of Phrag- 

 mites and Nephrodium in the Pleistocene clays of Benenitra in Madagascar.] Compt. Rend. 

 Acad. Sci. Paris 171 : 1389-1390. 1920. 



2090. Macbride, E. W. Recapitulation and descent. Nature 106: 280-281. 1920. 



2091. Nutting, C. C. Is Darwin shorn? Sci. Monthly 12: 127-136. 1921.— This is a 

 criticism of "A critical glance at Darwin" by John Burroughs in the August (1920) number 

 of the Atlantic Monthly. — DeVries, Jennings, Castle, Wilson and David Starr Jordan 

 are quoted to show that Darwin's theory of natural selection is not repudiated by scientists. 



— L. Pace. 



2092. Scott, D. H. Studies in fossil botany. Vol. 1. Pteriodophyta. 3rd ed., xxni + 434 

 'p., WOillus.A. & C. Black Ltd. : London, 1920. — The 3rd edition of this well known text contains 

 little that was not in the 2nd edition except for a summary of the results of the work of Kidston 

 & Lang on the petrified Devonian plants from the Rhynie chert of Scotland. These are rec- 

 ognized as constituting the basis for a new order — the Psilophy tales, as proposed by the 

 authors mentioned. — E. W. Berry. 



2093. Walkom, a. B. Mesozoic Floras of New South Wales. Pt. 1. Fossil plants from 

 Cockabutta Mountain and Talbragar. Mem. Geol. Surv. New South Wales Palaeontol. 12: 

 1-21. 7 pi. 1921. — A number of Mesozoic types, largely cosmopolitan forms, are recorded. 

 The genera represented are Cladophlebis, Coniopteris, Thinnfeldia, Taeniopteris, Podoza- 

 mites, Araucarites, Brachyphyllum if), Elatocladus, and Pagiophyllum {?). Araucarites 

 grandis, based on a large cone-scale, and Thinnfeldia talbragarensis and T. pinnata, are de- 

 scribed as new. Attention is called to the absence of all traces of Ginkgo and Baiera. 

 The flora is considered to be of Jurassic, and probably lower Jurassic, age. — E. W . Berry. 



