CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
North American Uredineae 
ProFEssor J. C. ARTHUR has begun his presentation of the Uredineae in the 
North American floras No one who has kept informed of our mycological 
literature, even in the most general way, needs to be told that the author is the 
om g American specialist on this group of fungi, and that this is the first attempt 
aph the rusts for the whole continent. Heretofore one has had to depend 
on fektited paper of Burritt dealing with the rusts of Illinois, and Fartow’s 
Host index of North American fungi, on the special papers by ARTHUR, Hotway, 
and others, and on the check lists and exsiccati that have been issued from time 
to time. The need of the work, therefore, cannot be questioned, and no one who 
has been engaged in a similar task can fail to appreciate the immense amount of 
effort it has required to bring it thus far toward completion. The part already 
issued, which includes descriptions of about 150 species and 34 genera, the writer 
understands to be but the advance guard of two or more parts to be issued later, 
as the material is worked up. ee 
The monograph is thoroughly well done. It presents a uniform treatment 
of description and terminology. The bringing together and describing anew all 
Stages, especially the pycnia which have largely been neglected before, make it 
especially valuable. It also reflects our latest knowledge of the life-history of the 
various species, to which the author has so long contributed with telling results. 
As to the real usefulness of the specific keys given under the genera, perhaps there 
_ May be some question, but the author no doubt has made them as valuable as 
they can be made. Mycologists have gone so far in describing new species of rusts 
- (and other fungi as well) chiefly because they occur on new hosts, that one fh 
_ Self-defense acquires the habit of disregarding keys, so far as possible, and uses 
_ the host and specific description a as the shortest route to identification. Then, too , too 
£, 
tis very difficult to discover t use in keys to 
families are necessary as characters to fill deliniences. In his keys ARTHUR has 
e use of both hosts and morphological characters, using the latter apparently 
whenever possible. 
Aside from the unquestioned merit of the work, the reviewer would dissent 
ngly from the point of view that compelled the author to split up old genera and 
_to coin many new specific names. These changes did not all appear for the first 
‘ARTHUR, JosEPH CHARLES, North American Flora.—Uredinales (Coleosporia- 
Pipes, Aecidiaceae pars) 7:83-160, 1907. 
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