>.y6 



NATURE 



[August 31, 1911 



BOTANICAL MONOGRAPHS. 

 Das Pflanzenreich. Regni vegetdbilis conspectus. 

 Edited by A. Engler. 



41. Heft. (iv. 56a) Garryaceae; (iv. 220a) Nyssaceae; 

 (iv. 220b) Alangiaceae; (iv. 229) Cornaceas. By W. 

 Wangerin. Pp. 18 + 20 + 25 + 110. Price 9.20 

 marks. 



42. Heft. (iv. 147) Euphorbiaceae-Jatropheae. By F. 

 Pax. Pp. 148. Price 7.40 marks. 



43. Heft. (iv. 228) Umbelliferae-Apioideae-Bupleurum, 

 Trinia et reliquae Ammineae heteroclitae. By H. 

 Wolff. Pp. 214. Price 10.80 marks. 



46. Heft. (iv. 94) Menispermaceae. By L. Diels. Pp. 



345. Price 17.40 marks. 

 (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann, 1910.) 



THE four volumes of which the titles appear above 

 are sufficiently diverse to indicate various general 

 features of this elaborate series. In the first place, 

 sufficient material for the first volume on the Euphor- 

 biaceas is supplied by the account of the tribe 

 Jatropheae, while Mr. H. Wolff includes no more than 

 a portion of the subtribe Ammineae in the first volume 

 dealing with the Umbelliferae. The termination Jatro- 

 pheae follows the official rules that tribe names 

 shall end in -eae, and the suffix, -ineae, indicates that 

 Ammineae is a subtribe. The Menispermaceae are 

 amenable to treatment in a single volume, while the 

 inclusion of four families under one cover is due to 

 the circumstance that certain genera, formerly included 

 in Cornaceae — notably by Dr. Harms in the " Pflanzen- 

 familien " — are now severed from that family and 

 placed in three distinct families. Of these, Garryaceae 

 and Alangiaceae are both monogeneric, while Nyssaceae 

 comprises Nyssa, Camptotheca, and Davidia. Garrya 

 has always been a puzzle, and even now Dr. Wangerin 

 expresses himself somewhat dubiously as to the pro- 

 posed location in the Amentales near Salicaceae. 

 Alangiaceae and Nyssaceae are referred to a relation- 

 ship with the Combretaceae in the order Myrtiflorae, 

 the only doubtful point being the exact posi- 

 tion of the monotypic genus Davidia. With regard 

 to the Cornaceae, the author has no hesitation 

 in placing them at the very bottom of the Umbelli- 

 florae, immediately anterior to the Caprifoliaceae. Dr. 

 Wangerin pays special attention to the various forms 

 of inflorescence in the Cornaceae, and submits an 

 analytical key to the genera founded upon anatomical 

 characters. The family consists of ten genera, of 

 which Cornus is the largest with fifty species. 



The tribe Jatropheae comprises thirteen genera, in- 

 cluding the well-known Hevea and two small new 

 genera; Jatropha far outnumbers the other genera 

 with 156 species, as Hevea approaches next with 

 17 species. Prof. F. Pax has worked out a 

 phylogenetic arrangement of genera and species based 

 upon a detailed study of the geographical distribution. 

 Seven genera are wholly American, five are palaeo- 

 tropic, and Jatropha is tropically cosmopolitan. The 

 chief centre of development is situated in Brazil, but 

 other centres occur in Central America and East 

 Africa, chiefly owing to the species of Jatropha found 

 in those regions. Diagrams are provided to illus- 

 NO. 2183, VOL. 8/] 



trate natural affinities of the genera and of different 

 sections and subsections of the genus Jatropha. 



The elucidation of the genus Bupleurum, which now 

 extends to 100 species, is the chief feature of the 

 Ammineae-heteroclitae. It is interesting to note that 

 in a family showing such diverse fruit characters the 

 most satisfactory characters for splitting up the genus 

 are furnished by the leaves. The criticism of un- 

 necessary diffuseness must be urged against the 

 author; the extreme instance is supplied by the de- 

 scription of subspecies and varieties under Bupleurum 

 falcatum, extending over thirteen pages. 



As might be expected from a botanist of such wide 

 experience. Prof. L. Diels has produced one of the 

 most interesting monographs. The various sections 

 in the general introduction of the Menispermaceae are 

 carefully elaborated. The family contains a very large 

 number of lianes, not one of which climbs by means 

 of tendrils; twining- is the usual device; the extent 

 of anomalous stem development is still a matter for 

 investigation. The value of Miers's contributions to 

 the classification of the family is generously empha- 

 sised, although the author finds it necessary to make 

 a number of alterations in the constitution of the 

 tribes. MucTi useful information is supplied in the 

 notes inserted after the diagnoses of the genera. One 

 new genus is proposed, and several new species are 

 indicated which are scattered generallv through the 

 genera. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Animals and Man: an Elementary Text-book of 



Zoology and Human Physiology. By Prof. V. L. 



Kellogg. Pp. x + 495. (New York': Henry Holt 



and Co., 1911.) 

 Although written from an American point of view, 

 with American animals as the chief tvpes, this well- 

 illustrated volume may be confidently recommended 

 to the English student on account of its lucid stvle, 

 orderly arrangement, and the method of treatment of 

 the various sections of its subjects. Based on two 

 still more elementary text-books of zoologv bv Prof. 

 Kellogg, the volume includes chapters on human 

 structure and physiology by Miss McCracken, a 

 fellow professor of the author at Stanford Universitv ; 

 this lady's contribution forming eight chapters in 

 the fourth part. The other chapters on physiology are 

 by Prof. Kellogg. 



The first six chapters are devoted to the constituent 

 parts of animals and their respective functions; the 

 subject being introduced by contrasting the organisation 

 o! a grasshopper — or rather a locust — with that of a 

 snail ; while in subsequent chapters a so-called sunfish 

 (in reality a member of the perch group), a sparrow, 

 a toad, a crayfish, and an amoeba arc made to serve 

 as typos of their respective classes. With part ii., 

 containing three chapters, we have summaries of the 

 life-histories of certain kinds of animals; mosquitoes 

 and caterpillars, with their transformations, serving 

 to illustrate inserts, while frogs and birds are taken 

 as examples of two vertebrate groups broadly distin- 

 guished bv the great divergence in their development. 



Systematic zoology and the classification and habits 

 (if animals form the subject of part iii., with eleven 

 chapters; tiie author commencing his survev with the 

 protozoa and concluding with mammals. The account 

 of the former group is well up to date, and particular 

 attention may be directed to the excellent description 



