l8 9*] Current Literature. 213 



* 



from the sessile nature of the genus; Telephium, in the old over-classi- 

 cal fashion, from Telephus, the son of Hercules/' 



The author is evidently enamored of tabular arrangement, for he 

 introduces tables, big and little, fragmentary and complete, at every 

 available point. 1 Here is one at random, from which their value may 

 be judged: "The fruit of the hazel can be worked out by reference 

 to the fragment of the complete table given on p. 137. " Then the 

 entire page 137 is devoted to this, by means of which the fruit of the 

 hazel ought to be "worked out" without severe mental strain: 



(syncarpous. f superior, 



(simple. < (each carpel with one seed, < 



£ f monogyncecial. < (apocarpous..^ (inferior. 



2 I (compound. (each carpel with more than one seed. 



% I polygyncecial. ( superior. 



\ (1-celled, withcupule— Clans. 



(inferior. -< 



( 2-celled. 



Page after page is covered with these "fragments," which are gathered 

 up, warmed over and spread out again in later " tables." 

 As specimens of the information imparted by this "introduction" 



read the following: 



gyncecium [of the Buttercup] 



pistil." 



"Consider now only one carpel. It is clearly monogynoecial." 

 "Raceme . . . Racemus, a bunch of grapes, one of the best 



amples of this kind of inflorescence." 



" • . . glaucous. This last word is used for a surface of excessive, 

 shiny smoothness." ' 



"The rootstock of the Cyclamen is a tuber. The most familiar ex- 

 ample of a tuber is a potato. The tuber of the Cyclamen is a root- 

 stock structure; that of a potato is formed from a branch . . • 

 and is therefore a stem structure." 



Here is a bit of technique: "And even in their case [leaves of 

 Sedum and Hyacinth] it is wise to cut up the leaf into fragments, 

 throw the pieces into melted paraffin, and when this has cooled and 

 solidified, make thin sections through this and the embedded leaves." 

 The naivete of these directions will be very impressive to those who 

 know the paraffin process. 



After five pages on these subjects, good, bad and indifferent, the 



author avers that "The cell-wall, protoplasm, nucleus, starch grains 

 aleurone grains are now understood." That and the following which 

 comes from near the close of the book must prove very cheering to the 

 weary student: "If the student will now turn to the syllabu s of the 



1 No less than 10 per cent, of the pages are occupied with such tabular views 

 Another 10 per cent, the glossary takes. 



