POSTELSIA 121 



The book is compact, clearly and well printed and bound, with 

 remarkably few corrections and additions. Without being too 

 critical, it gives a very good idea of the Norwegian flora, and 

 British botanists will find it well worth adding to their works of 



reference. 



Abthur Bennett. 





Postelsia : the Year Book of the Minnesota Seaside Station. St. Paul, 



Minnesota. 1906, Pp. 364. 33 plates. 



We gather from Prof. Conway MacMillan's short introductory 

 note that this is the second issue of a year-book by the Minnesota 

 Seaside Station at Fort Renfrew on the Vancouver coast, the first 

 year-book having been published four years ago. The present 

 volume contains seven papers covering a wide range of subjects. 

 The principal novelty is to be found in a paper by Mr. R. F. 

 Griggs, in which is established a new genus of Algae — Renfrewia, 

 closely allied to Laminaria. From the latter it is separated "be- 

 cause of its simple discoid holdfast without haptera, which, together 

 with its small size and evident simplicity of structure, marks it as 

 one of the most primitive of the kelps." The type is R. parvula, 

 a new species, and with it are associated /?. solidungula and R. yez- 

 zoensis, formerly known as Laminaria solidungula J. G, Agardh, 

 and L. yezzoensis Miyabe. Miss Henkel's paper on Tide-pools is 

 concerned more with geology than with botany* And Mr. Hall's 

 aper on the Geological Features of the Station does not touch on 

 otany. The Western Helvellinese of Miss D. S. Hone are fungi 

 which were collected in the western United States and Cauada, and 

 include four species of Geoglossace^e, two of Helvellacese, and one 

 of Rhizinacere. Mr. A. W. Evans, in treating of the Hepatic® 

 of Vancouver Island, gives a resume of previous work done, to wit, 

 Mitten's record of three species (1865), Pearson's of fifty-five species 

 (1890), and Underwood's of sixty-six (1898). Mr. Evans has 

 revised these older records, and, having received fresh material 

 from Port Renfrew, is able to raise the total to seventy-one species, 

 and he thinks that more may yet be found. 



Mr. F. K. Butters contributes an interesting paper on the Coni- 

 fers of Vancouver Island, giving a list of thirteen species which 

 occur spontaneously on the island, and a table showing their dis- 

 tribution in the great coniferous forest of Western America from 

 Alaska to California. He regards this great forest of the Pacific 

 coast as being a survival from pre-glacial times. The relations of 

 the species to local climatic conditions in Vancouver Island are con- 

 sidered. Full descriptions of all the native species are given, to- 

 gether with interesting notes on their distribution and habitat. 

 Also a number of species which may be expected to occur in the 

 mountains of Vancouver are briefly described. The author appends 

 & useful key to the genera of conifers found in North-western North 

 America, basing it upon the foliage of the mature plants ; and also 

 supplies in a tabulated form a comparative statement of seventeen 

 taain characteristics which in varying combinations distinguish 

 respectively the five sections of the genus Abies. 



