WsBUVAV^r 15, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



273 



for dioecious Bryopliytes. There is no a' priori 

 reason why in certain forms the sex of the 

 whole sporophyte may not be determined in 

 ihe zygote as is the case in the dioecious flower- 

 ing plants and in Mucor Mucedo. The de- 

 termination of the sex of the spores in a cap- 

 sule apparently takes place at or but slightly 

 liefore their formation. An attempt to sup- 

 press the formation of spores of one sex in the 

 capsule would appear, therefore, more prom- 

 ising than attempts to change the sex of a 

 spore or of a protonema already formed. 



A. F. Blakeslee 

 Cryptogamic Laboeatoey, 

 Hakvakd Univeesitt 



ie Mallatie Oriiiogamiche delle Pianie Oolti- 



vate. DoTT. Vittorio Peglion, Professore 



die Biologia agraria nella R. Universita di 



Bologna, ^a edizione, 1906. Casale Mon- 



ferrato. 12mo., pp. viii -|- 323. 



It is difficult for Americans to realize the 



great progress that is being made in Italy in 



■the applied sciences. In botany, at least, few 



investigators take pains to acquire a working 



knowledge of the Italian language, and in 



consequence Italian work is best known to us 



through German and French reviews. The 



above work is a case in point : although issued 



over a year ago, no mention of it appears to 



have been made in any publication in the 



English language. 



The book is one of a series now numbering 

 somewhat over fifty — the Biblioteca Agraria 

 Ottavi — all of which deal with some phase of 

 technical agriculture, and in general represent 

 the best Italian thought along their particular 

 lines. No attempt has been made in this 

 book to exhaust the subject of plant pathology, 

 but the information contained is condensed 

 and up to date: in many cases forming the 

 best summary of knowledge on the given sub- 

 ject that the reviewer has seen in any 

 language. But little attention is paid to 

 mycology; the taxonomic position of the para- 

 site does not determine the order of discus- 

 sion ; in other words, the book is written from 

 the standpoint of the disease itself — making it 

 almost unique among works on plant pathol- 



ogy. There is no index, but a very full table 

 of contents; there are practically no illustra- 

 tions. The book is printed in large, clear 

 type, generally free from errors. In one place 

 a curious transposition of paragraphs has 

 occurred, which the author, in litteris, corrects 

 as follows : the matter from and including the 

 title ' La Peronospora del Frumento ' on p. 

 96, to the beginning of the last paragraph on 

 p. 97, should be interpolated between the 

 second and third paragraphs of p. 93 following 

 the words ' * * * come suol farsi.' Also the 

 matter beginning at the bottom of p. 97 with 

 the words ' QuandoNsi approssima * * * ' and 

 ending on p. 99 with ' * * * contestata da 

 diversi studiosi.' should be interpolated on p. 

 102 before the words ' Quando una uredospora, 

 od una * * * .' 



The book opens with a chapter of generali- 

 ties, after which two chapters are devoted to 

 fungicides and the methods of applying them. 

 A much greater number and variety of fungi- 

 cides appear to be in common use than have 

 been found practicable in America. It is in- 

 teresting to note how, owing to field condi- 

 tions, the knapsack type of sprayer is almost 

 exclusively used. With cheap and efficient 

 labor the results of such spraying should be, 

 and apparently are, much better than those 

 obtained here by the wholesale use of power 

 and other large sprayers. 



The remaining chapters are devoted to spe- 

 cific diseases of the following plants: wheat, 

 oats, barley, com, rye, rice, alfalfa, beans, 

 peas, potatoes, beet, cabbage, .turnip and other 

 cruciferffi, hemp, flax, tobacco, watermelon, 

 strawberry, onion, tomato, grape, pear, apple, 

 peach, plum, olive, citrous fruits, mulberry. 

 Three chapters are devoted to diseases attack- 

 ing plants in the seed-bed, to the treatment 

 of wounds, and to the various forms of root- 

 rot of trees. It is unfortunate that the author 

 has not seen fit to include some bibliographical 

 matter under these various heads; or at least 

 to bring Voglino's bibliography (1895) down 

 to date. 



This book is of especial interest to Ameri- 

 can plant pathologists at this time on account 

 of its discussion of the diseases of the semi- 

 tropical plants, largely untreated in other 



