268 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 268. 



economic minerals of Canada from all the 

 provinces, and tables of their value and of the 

 amount produced and exported or consumed 

 at home. 



The volume contains a very complete index, 

 which adds greatly to its value. jr -.j a j,^ 



North American Slime Moulds. By T. H. Mac- 



Beide. New York, Macmillan & Co. 



The appearance of this book must be gratify- 

 ing to all American students of the slime 

 moulds. It is gratifying also that it comes 

 from the pen of one who has long been identi- 

 fied as an ardent student of these lowly organ- 

 isms, and whose former contributions to the 

 literature of the subject have shown signs of a 

 conscientious student. It follows closely after 

 the appearance of two monographs covering 

 the species of a much wider geographical area 

 and including the American forms ; the one by 

 Mr. George Massee of the Kew Herbarium, 

 London, Eng., and the other by Mr. Arthur 

 Lister, of the British Museum, London, Bug. 

 Nevertheless, it will be found convenient for 

 American students because it is limited to 

 American species, and especially because the 

 author has had an opportunity of comparing a 

 larger number of specimens representing the 

 American species, than perhaps were accessible 

 to the monographers mentioned above. 



Each of these three authors arrives at a dif- 

 ferent conclusion after the usual course of 

 reasoning in the selection of the name for the 

 entire group. Massee uses the name Myxogas- 

 tres first applied by Fries in 1829. Lister em- 

 ploys the name Mycetozoa, given by de Bary, in 

 1858, which included the Acraaiex of recent dis- 

 covery and the Myxogastres of Fries. Mac- 

 Bride choses the name Myxoniyeetes, substituted 

 by Link in 1831 for Fries Myxogastres, but 

 emended by deBary to include the exosporous 

 species, the endosporous species only having 

 been treated of by Fries and Link. The Myxo- 

 mycetea of deBary thus formed a subdivision of 

 his Mycetozoa. The author then says (p. 13), 

 " Myxomycetes (Link) de Bary must remain the 

 undisputed title for all true slime moulds, end- 

 osporous and exosporous alike." 



In the introduction the author briefly de- 

 scribes the habits and morphology of the 



organisms. It is evident from his discussion on 

 page 9 et. seq., that he considers them to be 

 plants. But he very sensibly recognizes the 

 difficulties here presented by a group of organ- 

 isms, whose vegetable characteristics on the 

 one hand ally them to the amoeboid animals, 

 and on the other hand give rise to no higher 

 group. He says " it is purely a matter of in- 

 difference whether we say plant or animal, for 

 at the only point where there is connection 

 there is no distinction." There are given di- 

 rections for the collection and care of material, 

 and also is given a good bibliography. 



In the taxonomic part of the book, the 

 Myxomycetes (Link) de Bary are regarded as a 

 class which is divided into three sub-classes. 

 The first sub-class is the Phytomyxineae 

 Schroeter, with one species, Plasmodiophora 

 brassicx which produces the common club foot 

 of cabbage, turnips and other cruciferous 

 plants. The second sub-class, the Exosporew 

 Rostafinsk, includes two species, the well 

 known Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa {Ceratium hyd- 

 noidei) and C. porioides, which may be only a 

 variety, or form, of the first named, as sug- 

 gested from material collected by the writer at 

 Ithaca, and indeed Lister considers it a variety 

 only (Mycetozoa, p. 26). The third sub-class 

 the Myxogastres (Fries) MacBride, represents the 

 Myxomycetes properly speaking, and it is here 

 that the large number of genera and species are 

 to be found. ' Keys ' are given first to the 

 orders of which five are recognized. Then under 

 each order are given keys to the genera and 

 species, with synonymy and diagnoses, which 

 latter are further made lucid by copious notes in 

 most cases. The distribution of each species as 

 at present known to the author is also given. 



In his treatment of the nomenclature the 

 author has not been led into many very painful 

 upheavals of antiquated names, though in sev- 

 eral cases the species appear under unfamiliar 

 names, the most notable being Mucilago spon- 

 giosa for Spumaria alba. Forty-four genera are 

 treated and over two hundred species. These 

 are illustrated by eighteen excellent plates. 

 The work is published in the attractive way so 

 characteristic of many of Macmillan's books. 

 Geoegb F. Atkinson. 



Cornell University. 



