MORPHOLOGY OF GTMXOSPERMS 827 



left the press, as papers will continue to appear which would have 

 been of great service in its production. 



The period of activit}^ in the work on Gvmnosperms, both recent 

 and fossil, did not come to an end in 1910 ; this is matter of common 

 knowledge to botanists who take any interest in the morphology and 

 phylogeny of the group and its bearing on the wider question of the 

 phylogeny of the seed-plants. The fact is also emphasized by the 

 eight pages of additional bibliography which form an ayjpendix in the 

 recently issued edition of 1917. 



It is therefore with a feeling of disappointment that we realize 

 that these eight pages of additional bibliography comprising 150 titles 

 constitute the most important difference between the editions of 1910 

 and 1917. 



In a brief prefatory note the authors exjDlain that the volume is 

 in no sense rewritten. Certain corrections and additions have been 

 made, but only such as would not break the continuity of the pages. 

 Reference is made to the chapter on C3xadales as that in which the 

 most numerous changes will be found, as this group has received the 

 most attention since the publication of the former edition. But a 

 companson of the two editions shows that these changes have been 

 but few ; the number of cases in which fertilization has been described 

 has increased (p. 148) from three to five, and the account of the 

 development of the proembryo on pages 152 and 154 has been revised. 

 Otherwise there seems little alteration. The more recent work on 

 Welwitschia and Gnetum is left unnoticed in the text, as the chapter 

 on Gnetales appears to be practically unaltered. 



We do not belittle the invalualDle work which Professors Coulter 

 and Chamberlain have done in their presentation of the Morphology 

 of the Gymnosperms, and heai-tily endorse Professor Jeffrey's dictum 

 which appears on the paper cover of the book : " The most important 

 general work on the Gymnosperms which has ever appeared." It is 

 important that new generations of students should be able to acquire 

 a work of classic importance, but botanists who already possess the 

 edition of 1910 will hardly find it worth while to obtain that of 1917, 

 We are hoping for many things after the War, and among them we 

 would include a really new edition of the Morphology of Gymno- 

 sperms, 



A. B. R. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



Mr. H. a. Wager, Professor of Botany at the Transvaal Uni- 

 versity College, Pretoria, has published A Check List of the Mosses 

 of S. Africa, in which are brouglit together all the known mosses of 

 that region. The list contains 160 genera and 846 species in 37 

 families. A number of new species are indicated, of which descrip- 

 tions will shortly be published. The list is issued by the Transvaal 

 Museum. 



