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261 



THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1917. 



l^EW BOTANICAL HANDBOOKS. 



(i) Algae. Vol. i., Myxophyceae, Peridinieae, 

 Bacillarieae, Chlorophyccae, together -with a 

 Brief Summary of the Occurrence and Distri- 

 bution of Fresh-water Algae. By Prof. G. S. 

 West. (Cambridge Botanical Handbooks.) 

 Pp. viii + 475. (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1916.) Price 255. net. 



(2) The Anthocyanin Pigments of Plants. By 

 Muriel Wheldale. Pp. x:+3i8. (Cambridge: 

 At the University Press, igi6.) Price 155. net. 



(3) A Text-book of Botany for Colleges. By 

 Prof. W. F. Ganong. Pp- xi + 401. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price 85. 6d. net. 



<i) A SPECIAL interest attaches to Prof. 

 ■^^ G. S. West's volume on Algae, as it is 

 the first of a series of botanical handbooks which 

 will be issued by the Cambridge University Press 

 under the editorship of Prof. A. C. Seward and 

 Mr. A. G. Tansley. The series has been 

 -designed to meet the need of books by specialists 

 on different groups of the vegetable kingdom, and 

 the present volume will be followed by others on 

 Lichens, Fungi, and Gnetales, by Miss Lorrain 

 Smith, Dr. Helen Gwynne-\'aughan, and the late 

 Prof. W. H. H. Pearson respectively. Except for 

 a faulty trimming of the pages (which, perhaps, is 

 confined to review copies), the "get-up " of the 

 book is excellent. An elegant cover, a clear text 

 with numerous well-displayed figures, and a good 

 index give promise of a series which, in the 

 matter of production, should be admirable. The 

 series opens well with the present volume, which 

 is a biological account of the Algae, both fresh- 

 Avater and marine, included in the Myxophyceae (or 

 Cyanophyceae), Peridinieae, Bacillarieae (Diatoms), 

 and Chlorophyccae (green Algae). The greater 

 part of the work deals with the green Algae, 

 a group to the investigation of which, especially 

 the fresh-water forms, the author has devoted 

 many years of thorough and painstaking 

 research, and on the taxonomy of which he is 

 one of the first authorities. The general struc- 

 ture, cytology, life-history, and biology of the 

 various groups, of their subdivisions and more 

 important genera, are described in considerable 

 detail, and their classification and phylogeny dis- 

 ■cussed. Matters of controversy, such as the 

 presence of a nucleus in the Myxophyceae, or the 

 ■mechanism of the movement of the Oscillatorieae, 

 are treated at some length with an impartial 

 presentation of various opinions. As regards the 

 nuclear question, the author decides in favour of 

 its being an "incipient nucleus." There is also 

 a valuable and expert discussion on the phylogeny 

 and classification of the Chlorophyccae, and the 

 system adopted, which differs in detail from pre- 

 vious systems, is based on a critical review of the 

 large amount of recent work and the wide 

 experience of the author himself. The conclud- 

 ing chapter on the occurrence and distribution of 

 NO. 2483, VOL. 99] 



fresh-water Algae forms an introduction to their 

 ecological study. 



(2) It is not usual to begin a notice of a book 

 with a reference to the bibliography, and jit is in 

 no sense disparaging to the value of the subject- 

 matter of Miss VVheldale's account of the 

 anthocyanin pigments of plants that we do so. 

 But the admirable classified bibliography of 645 

 items, occupying seventy-six pages, indicates the 

 wideness of the field and the variety of the points 

 of view from which the study of the colouring 

 matters in plants has been approached, from the 

 investigations of Nehemiah Grew, towards the 

 end of the seventeenth century, t^ the present 

 day- It also supplies the motive for Miss Whel- 

 dale's book, which is a critical account of the 

 various investigations which have been made 

 upon the anthocyanin pigments along botanical, 

 chemical, and genetical lines. The author is one 

 of a number of recent workers who have raised 

 the study of the colouring matters of plants from 

 an empirical chemical examination of their nature 

 and reactions, or somewhat hypothetical con- 

 siderations of their biological meaning, to an 

 important position in the study of inheritance. 

 The development in plants of many and various 

 anthocyanin pigments affords an almost unlimited 

 supply of material for this study. "We have 

 now, on the one hand, satisfactory methods for 

 the isolation, analysis, and determination of the 

 constitutional formulae of these pigments. Op 

 the other hand, we have the Mendelian *nethods 

 for determining the laws of their inheritance. By 

 a combination of the two methods we are within 

 reasonable distance of being able to express some 

 of the phenomena of inheritance in terms of 

 chemical composition and structure. There can 

 be little doubt that exact information of this kind 

 will be helpful for the true understanding of the 

 vital and important subject of Heredity." 



Miss Wheldale 's work forms a text-book of an 

 interesting and fertile branch of botany. The 

 subject-matter is divided into two parts. Part i. 

 is a "General Account," including an intro- 

 ductory chapter, or general survey, and chapters 

 on the morphological and histological distribution 

 of anthocyanins, their properties and reactions, 

 isolation and constitution, the physiological 

 conditions and factors influencing their formation, 

 the reactions involved in their formation, and 

 finally their biological and physiological signifi- 

 cance. The second or special portion deals with 

 anthocyanins and genetics. 



(3) Prof. Ganong's . published work on the 

 teaching of botany is well known, and his apology 

 for the issue of another text-book of botany is 

 that his careful study of the psychology of the 

 student has indicated that such a one is neces- 

 sary. Introductory courses in botany are, he 

 says, largely adapted to a preparation for a pro- 

 fessional botanical career, whereas in the case of 

 nearly all college students it forms part of a 

 general education. "Knowledge is valuable to 

 the specialist in the proportions of its objective 

 imoortance, but to the general student in the pro- 

 portions of its bearing on the actions and thoughts 



