


1901] CURRENT LITERATURE 357 
The actual condition of our anatomical knowledge seems to justify the gen- 
eral statement that the skeletal features of plants are even more conservative 
than their reproductive organs, and of quite as great importance in estab- 
lishing the phylogenetic grouping of the Vasculares. 
Turning to phylogenetic matters, the authors consider with Potonié and 
Scott that the Cycadofilices form the connecting link between Ferns and 
Gymnosperms. This group they believe to have given rise in all probability 
to two series, the Bennettitales and the Cordaitales. From the former the 
Cycadales were derived at a later date, while from the latter stock branched 
off subsequently the Ginkgoales and Coniferales. The significance of this 
phylogenetic tree would be more apparent had the earlier part of the book 
given a better illustrated account of the Cycadofilices and the Cycadofilicinean 
features of the living and extinct Gymnosperms. 
The present admirable volume is indispensable to every botanist, and 
the reviewer may perhaps express the hope that in the second edition, which 
will doubtless soon be called for, the authors will add to its usefulness by a 
well illustrated summary of the relevant points of vegetative anatomy.— 
E. C. JEFFREY, Zoronto. 
Bergen’s botany. 
WHEN there began a revulsion against the teaching of botany from the 
floral standpoint, Bergen’s Elements of Botany was one of the most helpful 
text books, because it looked toward the introduction of the student to the 
more vital phases of botany. The book met instant and increasing success, 
because it was just different enough from the former texts to attract the 
teacher who felt the need of a change, and not so different as to repel the 
teacher who was willing but not anxious to find a new guide. 
The Foundations of Botany recently issued? is in some sense a revision of 
the older book. It is said to be written upon the same lines, but it differs 
from the Elements in the extension of the portion treating of cryptogams, and 
in the introduction of a section on ecology. The adoption of these features, 
which characterize several of the more recent texts, is an acknowledgment 
that the lines on which they proceed are approved by teachers, and evidence 
that the publishers desire to meet this demand. The //ora, which in the 
earlier book was wholly inadequate, has been increased fivefold, and, judging 
from the title-page, is issued in editions adapted to various sections of the 
country. 
The illustrations are all new and almost without exception admirably 
selected and well made. Many improvements in the text are also evident, 
and the book is probably as accurate as any text-book now on the market 
BERGEN, JosePH Y.: Foundations of botany. 12mo. pp. xii+412. #, 
With which is combined : Bergen’s botany, key and flora; northern and we ao states 
edition, PP- 257. #gs. 25. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1901 
