1901) MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 145 
tioned. George F. Atkinson’s book on Mushrooms (Studies 
in American Fungi, Mushrooms edible, poisonous, etc) not 
only takes up the morphology, but the development and 
characters*by which many species may be recognized. In 
this book of something over 200 pages the common spe- 
cies are described and illustrated. The pictures are as 
good as the photographer’s art and engraver could make 
them, and the printer has done his part well. The photo- 
graphs in many cases show the natural habitat of the fun- 
gus. The spore prints and sectional views given show 
the structure at a glance. Notes on distribution, and 
whether poisonous or edible accompany the description 
so far as known to the writer. A good key to North 
America genera of the family Agaricaceze and a key for 
families accompanies the volume, as well as a glossary of 
the more technical terms used inthe work. Mr. Hassel- 
burg furnished the matter applied to certain structural 
characters of mushrooms. The chapter on chemistry and 
toxicology was written by J. F. Clark. The recipes for 
cooking were furnished by Sarah Tyson Rorer. An ex- 
cellent bulletin on mushrooms has also recently been is- 
sued by Prof. L. F. Henderson of the Idaho Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station. } 
EMBRYOLOGICAL STUDIES OF QJUERCUS.—Very little work 
has been done in working out the life history of Quercus 
but. Abram H. Conrad, has given us a good account of 
Quercus velutina. The material was quite refractory. 
Chromo-acetic and picro-acetic acid were the most satis- 
factory for fixing. Cyanin and Erythrosin proved good for 
early stages and Delafield’s hematoxylin for the archespor- 
ial stage and fuchsin and iodine green for embryosac and ~ 
embryo. (Bot. Gazette, 29 : 408.) 
SCLEROTINIA.—Prof. Ralph E. Smith, gives the results 
of his investigation on Botrytis and Sclerotinia, their re- 
lation to certain plant diseases and to each other. He - 
comes to the conclusion that Sclerotinia libertiana and 
