CURRENT LITERATURE. 
A text-book for advanced students.* 
In the second half of Vines’ “Student’s Text-Book of Botany,” re- 
cently issued, two-thirds of the space is given to the discussion of 
phanerogams, which concludes part 111 of the four grand divisions of 
the book. The presentation of the phanerogams is not characterized 
by any novelties in the way of changes in classification, but rather by 
a conservative retention of the older views. In the present state of 
our knowledge of relationships perhaps this is the only safe course, 
but one cannot help wishing that the dicotyledons had not appeared 
under the old three-fold division. This, however, has been suggest- 
ively modified, for the old group Afefale has been broken up; those 
in which the flower has become simple by suppression being interca- 
lated among the Polypefale; and those which are regarded as primi- 
tively simple forming the group Monochlamydee. For example, 
Euphorbiacee appear among Polypetale, while Chenopodiacee are re- 
tained among the Monochlamyde@. Theoretically the distinction is a 
good one, but the difficulty of determining what groups are primitive 
and what groups are reduced is a large practical objection. 
Aside from the fact that our most recent knowledge of morphology 
is incorporated, and so the whole presentation enriched, the notable 
feature is the maintenance throughout of a consistent morphological 
terminology. Sporophyte and gametophyte are discussed separately, 
and their structures are so designated as to keep homologies clearly in 
view. By no means the least important part of the work is the excel- 
lent summary given in each great group of the histology and embry- 
ology of the sporophyte. Probably the most perplexing morphologi- 
cal problem that remains among angiosperms is that concerning the 
nature of the structures of the embryo-sac, and one always turns with 
interest to this subject in a new book. Dr. Vines has adopted the 
view that the prothallium of angiosperms is developed in two stages, 
Separated from each other by the act of fertilization; that is, that the 
“endosperm” is simply a later development of the prothallium. It is 
true that there are other prothallia which continue to develop after 
the oospheres have been fertilized, but there remains yet to be ex- 
1Vines, S. H.—A student's text-book of botany (second half). 8vo. pp. 431- 
821, figs. 280-483. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. New York: Macmillan 
& Co. $2.00. (See for notice of first half, this journal, 19: 202. 1894.) 
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18—Vol. XX.—No. 6. 
