1889.] BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 1 55 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Rusts and Smuts. 



The rusts (Uredineae) and smuts (Ustilagineae) have for along time 

 been favorite objects for collection and study by botanists. The former, 

 especially, have attracted much attention both on account of their neat 

 and varied spore forms and the readiness with which in general they 

 may be distinguished by the hosts on which they grow. It is significant 

 also that we owe one of the most interesting chapters in the study of the 

 life history of fungi to the economic relation of rusts to agriculture. It 

 is fitting that such well marked and interesting groups should receive 

 independent treatment, and the assertion is abundantly substantiated by 

 a recent work w r hich lies before us. This is Mr. Charles B. Plowright's 1 

 account of the British species of these two groups, prefaced by a state- 

 ment of the general conditions of their development and of their exper- 

 imental cultivation. 



There has always been a curious association of the rusts and smuts 

 in the minds both of the pubMc and of the scientist, although it has not 

 yet been shown that they have any actual relationship that might justify 

 it. Mr. Plowright's book would doubtless have been just as acceptable 

 with the smuts omitted, although cutting out nearly one-fourth the pages 

 and one-half the illustrations, for he has added little to what was already 

 well known about them. 



The chief interest of the volume lies in the part on the rusts, and the 

 treatment is so satisfactory as to amply justify the publication in book 

 form. The publisher's part has been well done, if one is inclined to ac- 

 cept the liberal use of heavy paper, wherein we detect a willingness to 

 expand two dollars' worth of matter into a four dollar volume, as is the 

 custom with certain American firms. 



Every one of the seventy pages on the biology and experimental 

 treatment of the rusts shows the author's intimate knowledge of his sub- 

 ject gathered from extensive independent research. He tells us of the 

 mycelium, of the several spore forms and their significance, of the re- 

 markable history of heteroecism, and of his own excellent methods of 

 spore culture. This he does concisely and by the use of admirable diCj 

 tion. Any one who is studying, or thinks of studying, these fungi wil 

 find this part of the work of unusual interest and importance. 



After the biological part, occupying about one-third the book, comes 

 the systematic treatment of the British species. The arrangement of the 

 rusts is essentially that proposed by Sch roter, but the position of m any 



1 Plowright, Charles B.-A monograph of the British Urediime and Ustilaghn . 

 with an account of their biology, including the methods of observing the germination of 

 their Bpor and of their experimental culture, pp. 347, 13 wood cats and 8 plates. 8vo. 

 London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1889. 10s. 6 d. 



