216 Bihliographical Notices. 



one, has been carefully brought down to date. Such are, for instance, 

 the references to Professor Balfour's description of HnlopMla and of 

 the wild form of Punica, and to Mr. Bower's account of the germi- 

 nation of Wehvifschia ; Gynocardia^ the source of Chaulmagra Oil, 

 cannot, however, be rightly referred both to the BiUeniacea' and 

 Pangiacerr, nor can the Bladder-nut (^Staphylea pinnata) be truly 

 termed a native ; whilst we must confess ourselves unable to under- 

 stand Professor Gray's suggestion " that we need not consider the 

 ovule of Taxiis to be an axial structure simply because it is terminal, 

 it may be a leaf ' suppressed to the utmost '." Surely a leaf cannot 

 be truly terminal ! 



In the Cryptogamic portion an account of " apogamy," of the 

 Lycopodia, of some structural details in Sphagmim, and of the 

 vegetative structures of Characece are important additions ; but we 

 should like to have had more precise information as to the " remark- 

 able and complicated structure " of the stomata in Marcliantia. The 

 account of the Protophyta is excellent, and much relating to the 

 Fungi is new, as is most of the account of the Algae. The state- 

 ment that " the compound nature of Lichens has been completely 

 established " is a stronger expression than we have seen in any 

 English publication, but is certainly the opinion of the younger 

 school of botanists. The logical consequence of this view would seem 

 to be the dispersal of the group among the Discomycetes and Pyre- 

 nomycetes. 



We cannot admit that among Basidiomycetes, " according to the 

 most probable hypothesis, the so-called ' receptacle ' is a fructifica- 

 tion, the result of the conjugation of unknown sexual organs yet to 

 be discovered on the mycelium," since it seems far more probable 

 that the sexual stage has been apogamously lost. 



Empusci is, by a slip, alluded to among the Saprolegnieo', on 

 p. 444. 



In histology, modern researches by Strasburger on the nucleus, on 

 the continuity of protoplasm, and by Elfving on pollen are admirably 

 summarized, and accounts of sieve-tubes, emergences, vittae, and 

 other structures, passed over in the third edition, are given ; whilst 

 in the department of pure physiology more chemical detail and an 

 account of metastasis are the chief additions. In Chapter VI. of 

 Part III. the full account of the formation of pollen, of the embr5'o- 

 sac, embryo, suspensor and endosperm, according to the newest 

 lights, is of extreme interest. 



The fourth part, devoted to Geographical and Geological Botany, 

 is much as in former editions, allusions to Mr. Dyer's generalizations 

 being added in the first two chapters ; whilst in the third the term 

 '• Transition," long disused by geologists, is unfortunately retained : 

 AnihoUilies is said to have " much the general appearance of an 

 Orobanche "—a statement calculated to mislead a student into 

 thinking that it is a case of affinity ; and the Bovey Tracey lignite, 

 which is almost certainly of Middle Eocene age, is still treated of 

 under the head of Miocene. 



These are, however, but small blemishes in a work of such wide 



