204 THE JOrBKAL OF BOTANY 



mesophyiic conditions of the upland plains of China, Ainslicea is 

 the name now given to the transformed Chuquiragiia. This Ainslicea 

 type reached South Africa at a much later date (lower Pliocene) by 

 means of a greater development of the pappus which made migration 

 easier. During the journey it underw^ent a few other slight changes 

 to become Dicoma.'" Concerning all this one can only say that the 

 " phytologist " must indeed be "new" -who would accept these 

 fantastic statements at their face value. 



It is not pleasant to write like this, and the less so as the work is 

 that of a compatriot. Had Dr. Small restricted his ambition to the 

 domain of strict observation, Avith here and there a cautious generali- 

 sation from ascertained facts, he might have rendered 3^eoman's 

 service to students of the Comfosiiw, even as it is his book is well 

 worth study in parts, as has already been remarked. But in his main 

 thesis he must be held to have failed, and that not from want either 

 of insight or of ingenuity, but because the problem he has ventured 

 to attack is, at least in the present state of oui* knowledge, frankly 

 insoluble. S. M. 



The British Charophyta. By James Groves, F.L.S. and Geoege 

 Russell Btllock-Websteb, M.A., F.L.S. Vol. i. Nitelleie: 

 with Introduction, [20] plates, and text-figures. 8vo, cloth, 

 pp. xiv., 141. Dulau & Co. Price £1 5s. net. 



This first instalment of a work that was to have been issued 

 complete to members of the Bay Society in 1917 — a date which 

 somewhat unfortunately appears on the back of the cover — will be 

 welcomed by all students of the group of plants to which it refers, 

 to whose history it is an important contribution. There is no need 

 to point out — least of all to readers of this Journal, wherein so much 

 of their work has appeared — the qualifications of the brothers. 

 Groves for monograjjhing the plants at which they had worked for so 

 many years. Their first important paper was the " Review of British 

 Characeae" published in the Journal for 1880; but the thorough 

 Acquaintance there displayed of the plants described and the exhaustive 

 knowledge of the literature relating to them could only have been 

 achieved by many j^ears of careful and persistent work. In his 

 notice of his brother Henry (Journ, Bot. 1913, 73-79), whose death 

 occurred in 1912 and to whom the volume is fittingly dedicated, 

 Mr. James Groves attributes to him " the greater part of the work and 

 all of the drawings " ; but those who know how closely the brothers 

 were en rairport, not only in matters botanical, will hardly doubt 

 that, so far as the literary portion was concerned, the honours were 

 equal. From 1880 onwards, additions to the British list were 

 recorded and figured in this Journal ; four of the plates (including 

 Henry Groves's beautiful drawing of Nitella hyalina), are repro- 

 duced in the volume before us : the other three, with twelve now 

 published for the first time, are from the pencil of Miss Marj^ Groves, 

 and are in every way admirable. Canon Bullock-Webster, joint- 

 author of the volume, has been associated with the bi others for more 



