190 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
Dealing with the affinities of the Hbenacea, Mr. Wright recites 
the various opinions expressed by his Daeiecrs, without offering 
any original views of his own; under the circumstances he is con- 
tent to point out the main facts as sanlueaeted ‘a his present 
paper, and leaves the question of affinity until detailed information 
for the remaining species occurring in other parts of the world 
comes to han 
Mr. Wri rights valuable paper is an important addition to our 
knowledge of the genus, and when it is completed in the second 
part, which will a specific descriptions and Fitasteations, a 
which is promised soon to be published, the genus Diospyros will be 
among the best ebcieial of the larger genera in the Ceylon flora. 
W. P. Hiern. 
Vorlesungen iiber Sern cvundee Von Dr. Lupwie Jost, a. o. 
rofessor an der ne ersitiit Strassburg. Large sand PP. xii, 
on, tt. 172. Jen 1 Fischer 1904, Price 18 Mar 
nder the Hon e are three sections—(1) the material mis 
position of the plant, including the structure and chemistry of 
cell, protoplasm, &c. ; the assumption of matter in 1 
inflitenes of external factors—whether het such as ’ tempera- 
ture, light, gravity, and mechanical and chemical factors; or organic, 
including plant and animal parasites, and the problems of symbiosis, 
or the relation between the various parts of the individual plant. 
The fourth section is entitled “ Development of the plant aided the 
influence of internal and external causes,’’ and includes discussions 
on periodicity of growth, reproduction, and variation. In the last 
part the author discusses the celal leg of energy in movements of 
various kinds, both autonomic a ced, 
The book is a useful sesiatat pesesintatiol of the facts of plant- 
physiology, and the theories which are at present in vogue as to 
their meaning and explanation. A Be 8 
The Old Riddle and the Newest Answer. By Joun Gerarp, 8.J., 
F.L.8. S8vo, pp. x, 298. Longmans. Price 5s. net. 
Tue principal object of this book is to examine, entirely from 
the scientific side, the pretensions of such systems as those of Prof. 
Haeckel, which assume that modern research has supplied us with 
a purely, materialistic explanation of the aaveonne—-ite creation and 
