148 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [vEBRUARY 
on Monochlamydeae, Monocotyledoneae, Gymnospermeae, and Pteridophyta, 
embracing in all about 1900 genera. 
The descriptions are very full, and though the diagnostic characters are not 
indicated, this is largely atoned for “ the tae system of synoptic characters 
under the tribes and subtribes.—C. R 
Germs of mind in plants.—A little book,® unknown to us in the original 
French, now translated into English by A. M. Sruons, well-known for his work 
in Chicago along social and philanthropic lines, shows that there exists in France 
the same sort of popularizers of science as in our country—writers who with a 
smattering of scientific knowledge lack the fuller knowledge that forms a back- 
ground and furnishes scientific perspective. The facts of plant ecology are herein 
so distorted in their relation as to become caricatures; the use of words is so fan- 
ciful as to convert sober ideas into grotesque fairy-tales. For this, doubtless, 
the author is chiefly responsible; but the translator slips occasionally through 
unfamiliarity with a technical use of some common word. 
The book is interesting; but it is as little “science” as a historical novel is 
history. It is difficult to see how such fiction can be “a contribution to the cause 
of socialism and science.” —C. R. B 
Hepaticae of France.—LAcouture has prepared a helpful series of 
descriptive analytical keys to facilitate the identification of French liverworts by 
amateurs.’? The keys are arranged in a convenient bracket fashion, which is 
easy to use but makes the form of the thin volume rather unhandy and pre- 
cludes its use as a field manual. The description of each species is accompanied 
by an excellent figure illustrating tl t essential features described. The keys, 
in the form of tables, are arranged in three series, of which the first, consisting 
of tables 1 and 1m gives the characters of the tribes; the second, tables 11I-Ix 
the characters of the genera; and the third, tables xm-xxxIx, the characters 
of the species and the illustrations. No attempt is made to exhibit the natural 
classification —C. J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Index Filicum.— The fourth and fifth fascicles of CHRISTENSEN’s important 
work® were issued respectively in October and December last. They carry the 
references from Cyat/:ea lanuginosa to Gleichenia cryptocarpa. The huge genus 
Dryopteris alone takes fifty-two pages, which indicates something of the compre- 
hensiveness of the work. Let colleges and libraries hasten to support by their 
6FrANcE, R. H., Germs of mind in plants. Trans. by A. M. Smmons. 12mo. 
pp. 151. Chicago: C. H. Kerr & Co., 1905. 50 cts 
Lacouturr, CH., Hépatiques de la France. Tableaux synoptiques de. 
caractéres sedllatite des tribus, des genres, et des espéces. 4to. pp- 78. /#gs- 200- 
Paris: Paul Klincksieck. 1905. /r. 10. 
8CHRISTENSEN, C., Index Filicum, etc. Fasc. 4,5. Copenhagen: H. Hagerups 
Boghandel. 1905. Each 3sh. 6d. 
