154 



seems to me should be settled once for all, by special dispensation, 

 if no other way is available. While generic names are intended, 

 I suppose, to be merely appellative and not descriptive, I cannot 

 believe that it is for the best interests of science to perpetuate 

 Kuntze's suggestion. Edward W. Berry. 



Pass.mc. N. J. 



REVIEWS 



A New Handbook of the Genera of Freshwater Algae* 



Students and collectors often ask for a convenient work by 

 which to identify the common algae of pond and brook which 

 arouse the interest of every user of a microscope. There has 

 been no good manual to recommend, for the works of Wolle and 

 Cooke, never satisfactory, are quite out of date, and much the 

 same may be said of the more elaborate works of the continental 

 algologists. Professor West has produced a book which will be 

 exceedingly useful, not only to amateur and more advanced 

 students, but to teachers particularly ; for within a surprisingly 

 small compass he has given a good summary of recent work on 

 the phylogeny of the algae, and brief but sufficiently clear de- 

 scriptions to enable one without great difficulty to identify most 

 of the genera of the United States. If disappointment is felt that 

 specific diagnoses are not furnished, it is to be remembered that 

 for a single author to include such in so extensive and diversified 

 a group, would be to produce a work hardly more accurate than 

 those we have found so unusable, as well as unwieldy in size. 



The author divides the algae into the six classes, Rhodophy- 

 ceae, Phaeophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Hetcrokontae, Bacillarieae 

 and Myxophyceae (Cyanophyceac). Many will doubt the wisdom 

 of including the last two gronps with the higher algae but it 

 will be at least a convenience to have this outline of their genera. 

 The Peridinieae have been excluded for lack of space and because 

 of doubt as to their affinities with algae. Similarly, the Characeae 

 arc omitted as being of higher organization than algae. It is 

 certainly however, open to question whether the Characeae show 



* West, G. .S. A Treatise on the Hrilish Kresliwater Algae. 8vo. Pp. xvi -)- 372. 

 /. 1-166. Cambridge, at the University Press, 1904. Price, los. 6d., tiet. 



