October 19, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



607 



tion of these two lines of botanical study must 

 have an important bearing upon our knowledge 

 of phylogenetic relations, has led botanists to 

 look forward with confidence to the issue of 

 works which would bring paleobotanical re- 

 search into harmony with botanical knowledge 

 in other directions, and serve to definitely elim- 

 inate the many errors and misconceptions con- 

 sequent upon a copious but scattered literature, 

 much of which had its origin at the hands of in- 

 vestigators who, although well qualified for their 

 task in other respects, nevertheless lacked the 

 essential element of special training and insight 

 as botanists. In his ' Fossil Botany ' issued in 

 German in 1887, and reissued in an English edi- 

 tion in 1891, Solms-Laubach first opened the way 

 to this reform, but his admirable work left much 

 ground untouched. The expectations of botan- 

 ists were more fully and most agreeably met by 

 the issue of the first volume of Seward's ' Fossil 

 Plants ' in 1898, a work in thorough accord with 

 the most recent views of botanical relationship 

 and plant development, and which also possesses, 

 among other excellent features, the great merit 

 of having issued from the pen of one who is not 

 only a thoroughly trained botanist, but one who 

 has likewise acquired an intimate knowledge of 

 geological facts. Before the completion of this 

 epoch-making book, we are called upon to wel- 

 come another less pretentious, but nevertheless 

 excellent work at the hands of a French author 

 of wide repute. The extended experience as a 

 paleontologist which M. Zeiller has enjoyed for 

 many years, and the great excellence of his well- 

 known publications on fossil plants, will serve 

 to make this latest contribution from his pen a 

 particularly welcome one to botanists. 



The ' Elements de paleobotanique ' follows 

 somewhat the same general scheme as Sew- 

 ard's 'Fossil Plants,' but it is much less com- 

 plete in detail. The plan of treatment embraces 

 a consideration of 



1. The mode of preservation of fossil plants. 



2. Classification and nomenclature. 



3. A systematic treatment of the various 

 groups of plants, commencing with the Thallo- 

 phytes. 



4. The succession of floras and relation to cli- 

 matic conditions. 



5. General considerations bearing upon the 



evolution of plant forms as indicated by the evi 

 dence of fossil plants. 



The chapter on classification is devoted chiefly 

 to general considerations and leaves much to be 

 desii'ed in the way of defining the author's 

 position with respect to the relations of the 

 various groups of plants. This is, however, 

 the natural result of approaching the subject 

 from the standpoint of the experienced geolo- 

 gist, rather than from that of the expert botan- 

 ist, and a clearer conception of his point of 

 view is gained from the subsequent section on 

 a systematic treatment of the various groups, 

 wherein he adopts a plan which, in some re- 

 spects, can hardly be regarded as in accord with 

 the most recent views of plant relationship. 

 Such defects in systematic treatment, however, 

 are of minor importance and are readily over- 

 looked in considering the excellence of the 

 material which he presents and which in many 

 cases also has the added merit of freshness, 

 pi-actically extending the ground covered by 

 Seward's types. 



In the systematic section, the treatment of the 

 algse is brief, and hardly serves to convey an 

 adequate idea of the extent to which the most 

 delicate and perishable of all the plants found 

 in a fossil state are preserved. A concise state- 

 ment presents the leading facts relating to Ne- 

 matophycus so far as published results are 

 known — a plant which, while appropriately 

 considered under forms of doubtful or uncer- 

 tain relationship, is probably to be regarded as 

 representing a generalized type which may 

 eventually be found to include representatives 

 of both the Siphonee and Laminariese, although 

 recently acquired evidence would seem to point 

 to the latter in most cases. The Characese is 

 dismissed with a short paragraph which, in 

 spite of the relatively unimportant position 

 which this group occupies among fossil plants, 

 fails to convey an adequate idea of our knowl- 

 edge concerning them, and entirely ignores their 

 probable occurrence in paleozoic time. The 

 fungi are briefly considered, and they are made 

 to include the myxomycetes, the occurrence of 

 which is very problematical, and the bacteria, 

 of which two excellent illustrations are given — 

 one of Bacillus vorax and one of Micrococcus 

 guignardi. 



