238 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



He starts with the Marine Algae, which he beheves to have 

 been the earhest form of plant-Hfe-on earth, and proceeds to trace 

 the course which development appears to have followed in the 

 evolution, first of such terrestrial growths as Ferns and other 

 higher Cryptogams, and subsequently of Flowering Plants, with a 

 discussion of the mode in which flowers themselves came to be 

 produced. 



In a series of seemingly disjointed essays, such subjects are 

 treated as the character of plant-population in various situa- 

 tions ; the genesis of sand-dunes ; and the physical features which 

 make the seaside the original and favourite home of golf-links : 

 the general theme linking them together being the transition of 

 plant-life from water to land. 



The reader must not expect to find the book easy reading, for 

 it will demand constant and close attention to master the mass of 

 information with which it is tightly packed. He will, however, 

 have the satisfaction of feeling sure that he has the means 

 of acquiring a large amount of knowledge which is truly 



^<^^^'-'^^^^- John Gerard. 



BOOKNOTES, NEWS, etc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on May 4th, a paper, 

 illustrated by lantern-slides, was read by Dr. F. E. Fritsch, on the 

 Freshwater Algae collected in the South Orkneys by Mr. R. N. 

 Rudmose Brown. Comparison was made between the algal floras 

 of the South Orkneys and South Georgia, and special attention 

 was directed to the constituents of the " Yellow Snow." Prof. 

 Dendy referred to his method of keeping Hcematococcus in a dried 

 state, and the ease with which it was recalled to activity by being 

 moistened with rain-water and exposed to sunlight ; also the fact 

 that the addition of a small amount of nitrogenous matter, such 

 as dead flies, was sufficient to turn the red alga a vivid chlorophyll- 

 green. 



The Introduction to Vegetable Physiology, by Prof. J. Reynolds 

 Green, which we noticed at length on its first appearance (Journ. 

 Bot. 1890, 446) has passed into a third edition (J. & A. Churchill, 

 10s. 6d. net). It has been thoroughly revised — condensed in some 

 parts, extended in others, and in part re-written^and thus merits, 

 even more than it did on its first appearance, commendation as a 

 valuable addition to the teaching literature of botany. Prof. 

 Green, as he tells us in his preface, has set [himself] throughout 

 to combat an idea that has arisen during the last few years that 

 many changes may go on in protoplasm without involving any 

 interchange with its substance. This he holds to be erroneous ; 

 " in all the reactions of which it is the scene its own auto-de- 

 composition and reconstruction are involved." 



If we do not quite see the raison d'etre of Miss M. Wrigley's 

 Studies of Trees and Flowers (Methuen), that need not prevent us 



