STUDIES IX FOSSIL BOTANY 55 



present day. Perhaps Church's theory provides a clue to the problem 

 of why such generalized plants as the Psilophytales and such highly- 

 specialized forms as the early Pteridosperms seem to he separated by 

 a comparatively short space of Geological time. But whatever may 

 be our opinion of current theories, the present work gives the botanist 

 a ready means of becoming acquainted with the earlier plants which 

 grew upon the earth. 



H. H. T. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



An admirably illustrated monograph of The Leguminous Plants 

 of Hawaii (Honolulu, July, 1920) has been provided by Prof. Joseph 

 F. Rock, of the College of Hawaii. Published by the Experiment 

 Station Committee of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, who 

 are to be congratulated on their encouragement of science, special 

 attention has naturally been paid to the economic species ; but from a 

 botanical standpoint it is thoroughly satisfactory, the descriptions 

 being full and scientific, with a clavis to the longer genera and a full 

 synonymy : the notes on certain groups — e. g. the various forms of 

 " Koa " — are of great interest and importance. The book is very 

 well printed and has an excellent index ; its attractiveness is increased 

 by the plates — 92 in number; many of them are taken from an 

 earlier work by the same author on The Ornamental Trees of Hawaii, 

 and show the whole tree. 



The second part of the botanical section of the important work 



Nova Caledonia — on the scientific researches in New Caledonia and 

 the Loyalty Islands, edited by Fritz Sarasin and Jean Roux and 

 published last year at Berlin and Wiesbaden, contains an enumeration 

 of the Fungi by Miss E. M. Wakefield and numerous contributions 

 on other groups : the phanerogams are undertaken by Messrs. Schinz 

 and Gruillemin, who are editors of the section. The page-headings 

 give no information beyond the number of the page ; it is strange 

 that this opportunity for conveying useful information should be 

 neglected in a work of this kind. 



Science Progress — whose page-headings remain a standard example 

 of neglected opportunities— contains a paper on " The Soya-Bean 

 Problem," by Dorothy M. Atkins, B.Sc, in which the economic 

 value of Glycine hispida is set forth and its cultivation described. 

 " Experiments in some parts of the British Empire show that local 

 conditions are favourable " to its cultivation, but no " serious attempt 

 to start Soya-bean culture on an economic basis has been made." 

 Nevertheless, Miss Atkins hopes (in italics) " that toe shall continue 

 to encourage this promising crop, so that we may avoid 'repeating 

 the history of our belated support of the sugar-beet'''' : presumably 

 the " problem " is connected with the cultivation. Dr. Salisbury 

 contributes the usual summary of recent advance in Botany, which 

 would be more useful if the month in which papers appear were 

 named. There is still room for improvement in the proof-reading, and 

 " Spencer le More " is an odd rendering of the name of our valued 

 contributor. 



The Imperial Bureau of Mycology, recently established at Kew, 

 " is the outcome of a proposal adopted by the Imperial War Con- 



