392 



NATURE 



{Feb. 26, 1880 



region contains 405 species, or 60 per cent., and of these 

 82, or 12 per cent., arc special. Lastly, the fourth region 

 contains 291 species, or 42 per cent., and of these 126, or 

 1 8 per cent, are found in it only. No fewer than 18 of 

 these are found in the basalt of the lesser Schneegrube, 

 which Stein calls the ''• El Dorado of Lichenologists," 

 as 16 of them are not met with elsewhere. 



Stein defines lichens as being those thallophytes in 

 which the thallus exhibits a union of gonidia, threads or 

 hypha? and chlorophyll-bearing, or phycochromaceous 

 cells, or gonidia, the fruit-body containing the spores in 

 asci. The structure of the thallus is described in full, as 

 well as that of the reproductive organs, the spermogonia 

 and apothecia. Spermogonia. now recognised as the 

 male reproductive organs, have been met with in most 

 lichens, but are as yet unknown in the genera Solorina, 

 Myriangium, and Siphula. Usually spermogones and 

 apothecia occur in the same plant, lichens being thus mostly 

 monoecious, but occasionally the two kinds of organs are 

 on different plants, as in Ephebe pubescens, which is 

 dicecious. The origin of the apothecium from the 

 ascogonium and carpogonium is described from the obser- 

 vations of Stahl, and the non-sexual reproduction by the 

 pyenides with their stylospores or conidia, is also men- 

 tioned, while the formation of soredia is described as 

 spontaneous division of the thallus. Most lichens 

 produce soredia, and we may form a new plant, or several 

 may unite together to form a single new thallus. The 

 structure of the gymnocarpic apothecium with its four 

 layers, the hymenium, sub-hymenium, hypothecium and 

 excipulum, is detailed in full. 



The division of the lichens into subordinate group calls 

 for no remark, while to assist the student a very good 

 analytical key to the genera is given, occupying no less 

 than seven pages. In the description of the species the 

 chemical reactions are given, but Stein seems very wisely 

 to reject all species only recognisable by chemical tests, 

 i.e., without some structural character. 



W. R. McNab 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Blowpipe Analysis. By J. Landauer. Authorised 



English Edition, by James Taylor and William E. 



Kay. (London : Macmillan and Co., 1879.) 

 The writer of this treatise, as appears from his preface, 

 has designedly restricted its scope by omitting all 

 reactions peculiar to minerals, on the ground that most 

 works already in existence upon the subject treat the 

 mineralogical part in great detail, and devote compara- 

 tively little attention to its chemical aspects. This reso- 

 lution is unfortunate, as the principal justification for the 

 systematic teaching of blowpipe analysis is to be found 

 in the facility thereby acquired in the identification of the 

 constituents of minerals by simple means when the 

 resources of a complete laboratory are not at hand; and 

 by omitting all characteristic mineral reactions the 

 interest of the work is decidedly lessened. Within these 

 restricted limits, however, the book is a very good one 

 and likely to be useful to students in chemical laboratories 

 as an adjunct to the ordinary text-books on analysis, and 

 this utility will be increased by the chapter on Bunsen's 

 flame reactions, which have for many purposes replaced 

 the older methods of investigation. The matter is con- 

 densed in a fashion rather unusual in works of German 

 origin, and the arrangement is good though somewhat 

 troublesome to use, on account of the adoption of a double 



system of numeration by pages and paragraphs. Neither 

 author nor translators have, however, paid sufficient 

 attention to the necessity, or at any rate desirability, of 

 properly proportioning the different parts of the blowpipe. 

 In this respect the examples figured are to be avoided, as 

 they are far too narrow in the tube to be used with 

 anything like comfort. We should also be disposed to 

 give the first instead of the second place to the Planner 

 oil-lamp when compared with the gas-flame. The latter 

 is undoubtedly more convenient, as saving the trouble of 

 trimming and cleaning ; but for all accurate work a good 

 lamp or even a candle flame is generally preferable as being 

 more readily controlled than gas. A self-acting blowpipe 

 on the principle of the Sommellier compressor made with 

 two bottles, a length flexible tube, and a gallon of water 

 described on p. 5, deserves notice for its ingenuity, but 

 such contrivances are not to be recommended in practice, 

 for they are, to quote the words of a leading American 

 mineralogist, "unnecessary when the student has suffi- 

 cient enterprise to learn to blow the ordinary instruments, 

 and no others will be likely to make much progress in 

 blowpipe analysis." 



The Zoological Record for 1877; being Volume Four- 

 teenth of the Record of Zoological Literature. Edited 

 by E. C. Rye, F.Z.S. (London ; Van Voorst, 

 1879.) 

 It is now just fifteen years ago since the project of the 

 Zoological Record was first started by Dr. Gtinther. 

 The difficulties of the undertaking were many, the labour 

 was great, the reward uncertain. It would seem a proof, 

 however, of there being a necessity for such a publication 

 when we find it still pursuing the even tenour of its way, 

 under the auspices at present of an association, and 

 favoured by considerable money grants from the Royal 

 Society, the British Association, and the Zoological 

 Society of London. The original staff of recorders have 

 now all but Dr. von Martens ceased from their re- 

 cording labours and a younger generation takes their 

 place. 



The pagination is now, we observe, of a new, perhaps 

 of a more scientific, but certainly of a puzzling type, each 

 class having a pagination to itself, so that the sequence 

 of the classes has first to be learnt and then only can one 

 find the object looked for ; that this may be a convenience 

 to the printer we acknowledge, but we do not think it a 

 commendable plan. We confess too that we like the 

 method still adopted by some of the older recorders, of 

 giving first a list of the more important publications in a 

 group, then an account of the works on the anatomy and 

 embryology of the same, next the contributions to faunas, 

 and lastly, the new forms, &c, under their orders and 

 families. To say the least the editor would consult the 

 convenience of the student if he would suggest an uni- 

 formity in practise in these particulars to his staff. Thus 

 making all due allowance for the difficulties in the way of 

 classifying the Vermes, yet the manner in which the new- 

 genera and species are recorded makes it rather difficult 

 to find out what has been done in this group during 1877. 

 The editor too, for he alone could do it, might have added 

 to the last paragraph but one treating of the worms, a 

 reference to "Moll. 55," where pretty much the same 

 facts are stated as we find recorded in "Verm. 21." 

 Amid such a quantity of matter it would be simply an 

 impossibility that mistakes should not sometimes occur, 

 and indeed on a careful survey of this volume such have 

 very rarely turned up. In " Ech. 5 " we may remark 

 that the notes by "G. Mcintosh " referred to should be 

 credited to H. W. Mackintosh, probably not even a rela- 

 tion of the person named. In " Coel. 13" is not Cylicozoa 

 a misprint for Calycozoa ? At " 4 Spong." we read, " Gen. 

 Ceratella, Gray, and Dihitella, Gray, are undoubtedly the 

 same genus, C. labyrinthica, sp.n. (vide infra) " (why is the 

 accent always on this a). We have looked both below and 



