CURRENT LITERATURE 



BOOK REVIEWS 

 Lotsy's textbook 



The first part of the third volume of Lotsy's Vortrage iiber botanische 

 Stammesgeschichte 1 begins with the Coniferae and ends with Casuarinaceae . 

 There are 1055 pages and 661 figures, scarcely any of which are original. The 

 principal literature, especially the morphological, is gathered together and 

 illustrations are lavishly reproduced, often whole plates, rather than merely 

 the figures bearing upon the subject. In the case of such an extensive work 



summary 



principal conclusions, but a few points might be noted. 



finds 



phylogeny is still uncertain, but that they must have come from the great 

 Filicales complex, and that they contain forms in which the ovulate structures 

 should be called a flower and others in which they constitute an inflorescence; 

 consequently, those who are convinced that the angiosperms have come from 

 the Coniferae are at liberty to regard the angiosperm flower as either a strobilus 

 or an inflorescence. Lotsy continues in his previous belief that the Gnetales 

 have not given rise to the angiosperms, but rather represent the end of an 

 evolutionary line. 



The monocotyledons, with the exception of the Spadiciflorae, which Lotsy 

 places near the Piperales, form a consistent group, and have been derived from 



dicotyledons 



primitiv 



and the Orchidaceae as the most advanced. The various families are con- 

 sidered seriatim, and their external habit and internal morphology are well 

 illustrated, but there is little effort to show general tendencies. 



Attention may also be called to a few* details. In considering Gnetales, 

 Coulter's interpretation of the tissue at the base of the free nuclear embryo 

 sac is questioned, but no new evidence is introduced. In the opinion of the 

 reviewer, Coulter's interpretation is correct and Lotsy's own preparations 

 would show the boundary of the embryo sac between the free nuclear portion 

 and the so-called antipodal region. 



Miss 



igarding 



x Lotsy, J. P., Vortrage iiber botanische Stammesgeschichte, gehalten an der 



Reichsuniversitat zu Leiden; ein Lehrbuch der Pflanzensystematik. Dritter Band: 



Cormophyta Siphonogamia. Erster Teil. 8vo. pp. 1055. Jigs. 661. Jena: Gustav 

 F^cher. i 9 „. Jf 7 . 14 . 



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