i62 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



exceptionally suggestive genus of Professor Nathorst's, Pseudobornia ; but 

 no picture of it is given, although Professor Nathorst's original publication 

 was accompanied by a plate which would lend itself readily to excellent repro- 

 duction. A picture of this genus is needed because the original Swedish 

 memoir is not too accessible, so that students do not generally see the paper 

 and so obtain no clear mental picture of the peculiarities of the genus. 



Then, again, 130 pages are devoted to the Lycopodiales, and in all these 

 pages there is but a mere mention of the Mesozoic forms. That the Mesozoic 

 is not systematically eliminated is seen when we turn to the chapters on the 

 ferns, for there we find that both the Tertiary and the Mesozoic species of the 

 OsmundacecB are considered : very rightly ; for their structure, which has 

 been so well demonstrated in recent years from good material, affords beautiful 

 illustrations of various points of morphological interest. But so also does 

 the structure of Tempskya, though of this fern not a word is said. Yet 

 Tempskya is known from beautiful anatomically preserved material, and 

 it is a form of very widespread and frequent occurrence, which has also 

 within recent years been made the subject of detailed work, revealing its 

 extraordinary and unique stem morphology. This fern i quite as curious 

 and as full of interest as anything in Palaeobotany, but it finds no place in 

 these pages. 



The author says : " Space forbids us to extend our studies of the ferns 

 to later epochs " ; but the reader cannot forbear to ask. Why ? seeing that 

 this book of studies has expanded itself from one small single volume to its 

 present form in two greatly enlarged volumes. 



No other text-book of Palaeobotany exists in which are presented the lead- 

 ing forms of interest with such detail, such accuracy, and such illuminating 

 insight, so that it is all the more to be regretted that the vision is myopic. 



To the influence of this book may be traced the high quality of much of 

 the Palaeobotanical work done in our country, and also our national defect in 

 Palaeobotany — that is, our lack of appreciation of the balance of the whole 

 of our science. 



ZOOLOGY 



A Text-book of Biology. By William Martin Smallwood, Ph.D. (Harvard). 

 [Pp. xvi + 308, with 229 engravings and 3 plates in colours.] (Phila- 

 delphia and New York : Lea and Febiger. Price $3-50.) 

 This is the fourth edition of Professor Martin Smallwood's text-book. It is 

 meant for students in medical and general technical courses, but it is not 

 extensive enough for any of the First Medical or Science Biology examinations 

 in this country. The new edition is attractively written, though the English 

 is often very bad — especially so from a Professor in a Liberal Arts College. 

 Here and there the accounts given of various life histories are slipshod and 

 inaccurate. This applies especially to the author's remarks on malaria 

 (page 218) ; the correct adjective corresponding to Anopheles is " anopheline." 

 FertiUsation is not " the union of the male chromatin (chromosomes) and the 

 female chromatin." The manuscript should really have been read by an 

 expert biologist, and such mistakes deleted. Otherwise the book is most 

 readable, and should prove a useful adjunct to the student already provided 

 with proper text-books of Biology. J. B. G. 



Zoology. An Elementary Text-book. By Sir A. E. Shipley, Sc.D., and 

 Prof. E. W. MacBride, F.R.S. [Pp. xx + 752, with 360 illustrations. 

 Fourth Edition.] (Cambridge : at the University Press, 1920. Price 

 205. net.) 



This is the fourth edition of this well-known and useful work. The present 

 volume has been revised by Prof. MacBride, and contains new matter on the 



