472 Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



CURRENT BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 



Charles J. Chamberlain. 



Books for review and separates of papers on botanical subjects should be sent to 



Charles J. Chamberlain, University of Chicago, 



Chicago, 111. 



REVIEWS. 



Dixon, H. H. The Possible Function of the The suggestion contained in the title 

 Nucleolus in Heredity. Ann. Bot. 13: is merely a tentative hypothesis which 

 9--/ > 99- accepts the theory- that hereditar}- sub- 



stance is completely contained in the chromosomes during nuclear division, but 

 adds that, during the resting stage of the nucleus, the hereditary substance may 

 be distributed between the chromatin thread and the nucleoli. Professor Dixon 

 produces considerable evidence in favor of this view. The opinion that in early 

 stages of mitosis the substance of the nucleoli is distributed along the chromo- 

 somes is gaining ground, as repeated observ^ation shows that when the amount 

 of chromatin increases, the amount of nucleolar matter decreases, and vice 

 versa. In regard to the equivalence of the male and the female hereditar)- 

 masses, it is known that just before fertilization, the male nucleus is often a 

 compact mass of chromatin, with no trace of nucleolus, while the female 

 nucleus has very little chromatin, but has a large nucleolus. It frequently 

 happens that this difference is equalized before the union of the germ nuclei, 

 the quantity of chromatin increasing in the female nucleus evidently at the 

 expense of the nucleolus, while in the male nucleus, nucleoli appear at the 

 expense of the chromatin. The bearing of such a theory upon the reduction of 

 the hereditary mass is then discussed, and it is suggested that the extrusion of 

 nucleolar substances during the development of sexual cells may be concerned 

 in this process. The writer believes that his theory is supported by Shaw's 

 work on Onoclea, by the work of Farmer, Williams, and Strasburger, on Fucus, 

 by Wager's work on Saccharomyces, and by other evidences. The theory is 

 certainly suggestive, and will doubtless lead to a more definite knowledge of 

 the nucleolus, whether the theory itself proves to be true or false. c. j. c. 



. ^ . , , „,., , The attention which is being paid to 



Lounsberry, Alice. A Guide to the Wild ° ^ 



Flowers, with an introduction by Dr. N. L. nature Study in the public schools 



Britton. 8yo. pp xyiI+347. Si.xty-four j^^g created an imperative demand 

 colored and one hundred black and white 



plates, and fifty-four diagrams, by Mrs. Elhs for literature on this subject, but 



Rowan Frederick A. Stokes Company, ^ ^^^^ j^^^.g attempted to sup- 



New York, 1899. ■' r r 



ply the demand have had such a 



meager knowledge of facts that their books must be regarded as fain,- tales 

 of no scientific value, and of no use as a guide to study in the field. The 

 present book is admirably planned, the arrangement being determined by 

 ecological relations, The principal topics are : Plants growing in mud, bogs, 

 swamps, and marshes. Plants growing in light soil, sandy soil, dry soil, open 

 woods, upland places, thickets, meadows, waste soil, roadside banks, and lanes. 

 In discussing any particular flower, the writer gives both the common and 



