1Igoo| CURRENT LITERATURE 70 
Plant diseases. 
INFORMATION regarding plant diseases is accumulating so rapidly, and 
the interest of practical as well as of scientific men is so keen, that frequent 
issues of books upon one phase or another of the subject may be confidently 
expected. The latest to reach us is by George Massee,‘ curator in the cryp- 
togamic division of the Royal Kew Herbarium, London. The book is printed 
and issued in good and convenient form, and is the best manual yet prepared 
for the British public. Although not so stated, the point of view is mainly the 
requirements of cultivators in Great Britain; and while much of the work is 
applicable to the needs of cultivators in North America, yet it is well to 
remember that the treatment does not always meet the American conditions 
or state of knowledge, in spite of the fact that the United States is frequently 
mentioned. 
A general description of fungi and of their modes of inducing disease, 
with an account of fungicides and their application, occupies about fifty pages. 
The body of the book, about three hundred pages, and the part upon which 
the usefulness of the work chiefly depends, is devoted to specific plant 
diseases. The common name is used as the topic heading, supplemented 
by the name of the fungus in parenthesis. The diseases are grouped 
according to the relationship of the parasite. Following the body of the 
work are a hundred pages of technical descriptions of orders, genera, and 
species of parasitic fungi mentioned in the previous part, designed to provide 
the cultivator with a means of identifying the fungi he meets with. The use- 
fulness of this portion of the book may be questioned, as it is without keys, 
or even the names of hosts or the geographical range. It is, indeed, a very 
dry bit of bookmaking. A good index to parasites and host: plants, unfortu- 
nately in two parts, completes the work. 
The part of the work dealing with specific diseases is cast in a concise 
and serviceable form. The disease is clearly described, preventive or cura- 
tive measures are given, and some important literature is mentioned, in each 
instance. The large proportion of the facts and citations, under many of the 
diseases, that are credited to American sources, is a matter of pride to American 
vegetable pathologists and a guarantee of the usefulness of the work in the 
hands of the American cultivator. The illustrations are many and excellent. 
Very few and only minor errors occur in the book. The old and oft 
printed statement is made that Cystopus candidus does not form oospores in 
shepherd’s-purse, whereas it always does when the fungus invades the flow- 
€rs. All Gymnosporangia are said to be hetercecious, but the author over- 
looked the exceptional G. Bermudianum.— J.C. A 
*MAssEE, GEorGE: A text-book of plant diseases caused by cryptogamic para- 
sites. I2mo. pp. xii 458. “gs. 92. London: Duckworth & Co. New York: 
The Macmillan Company, 1899. $1.60. 
