and Laboratory Methods. 1131 



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. 



Qoebel, K. Organographie der Pflanzen ins- -pj^g f^^st volume of this work has 

 besondere der Archegoniaten und Samen- 

 pflanzen, Zweiter Teil. Specielle Organo- already been reviewed in the Journal. 



graphie. 8vo, pp. xiii-xvi 4-385-648; 173 The present volume deals with the 



illustrations. Gustav Fischer, Jena. M. 1. 



gametophyte and sporophyte genera- 

 tions of the Pteridophytes, and with the sporophyte generation of the Spermato- 

 phytes. The gametophyte of the Pteridophytes is discussed under the headings 

 (1) Structure and Development of Sex Organs and (2) The Form of the Pro- 

 thallia. 



In treating the development of antheridia the author advances views which 

 are at variance not only with the views of Belajeff and others, but also with his 

 own previous accounts. According to his present interpretation we have within 

 the microspore wall of Iscetes a. prothallium, consisting of three sterile cells and 

 one antheridium, the wall being represented only by the cover cell. In treating 

 the development of antheridia and archegonia, the transition from free to 

 imbedded forms is described in some detail. The peculiar prothallia of OpJiio- 

 glossum, Botrychiiim, and Lycopodium, receive particular attention. In the 

 second part of the book, which is devoted to the sporophyte generation of the 

 Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes, the various organs are discussed in great 

 detail. Some of the most interesting topics are : The Comparative Morphology 

 of the Embryo ; The Transition Between Leaf and Shoot ; Leaf Formation ; 

 The Relation between Leaf Venation and Leaf Development; Transformed 

 Leaves; Branching, etc. The treatment throughout is dominated by experi- 

 mental morphology, and cannot fail to be a great help to all investigators, and 

 especially to those who are too rigid in their morphology. While constantly 

 calling attention to the variation which occurs in nature, and which may be 

 induced artificially, the author also recognizes the large part which heredity 

 plays in determining the plant form. An English translation will appear soon. 



c. J. c. 



Byxbee, Edith S. The Development of the ^^^^ Byxbee's work on Lavatera is an 

 Karyokinetic Spindle in the Pollen-mother- •' 



Cells of Lavatera. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., addition to the very interesting series 



Ser. Ill, Bot. 2: 63-82, pis. 10-13, 1900. of contributions on spindle formation 



recently issued from the laboratory of the University of California. While differ- 

 ing in certain minor details, the writer's conclusions confirm the more important 

 points previously observed in Cobcea, Passiflora, Gladiolus^ etc., by other investi- 

 gators. Her observations are briefly as follows : The meshes of the network, 

 close to the nuclear wall, form a felt of fibers about the nucleus. The granular 

 constituent of the cytoplasm collects in a wide, dense zone about the nucleus. 



