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lucent dots if he thinks a specimen is perhaps Aurantiaceous? 

 The question is reduced therefore, mainly, from a systematist's 

 point of view, to the value of anatomic characters (confining our- 

 selves for the present to anatomic leaf-characters) in discovering 

 the hidden bond of descent which determines the affinity of plants. 

 I should fancy that this value will be found greater for genera and 

 sections than for species. The anatomical structure of leaves is 

 rapidly altered by the environment, moisture, shade, warmth. In 

 DC. Munogr. v. 6, pp. 16, 17, it will be seen that Hackel could 

 make no use of the anatomic method in systematizing grasses. 

 Like all other characters, anatomical will vary greatly in value in 

 different orders and genera, and I should expect in gramma the 

 " durchaus negatives Eesultat " which Hackel, a most competent 

 man, arrived at. This is the important point that the old-fashioned 

 systematists have to stand by, viz., that anatomic characters (like 

 all other characters) have a variable value, and that they are only 

 one among a large number of other characters, at least equally 

 entitled to weight. Therefore anatomical characters are not to be 

 given a superior value and to be allowed to swamp all other con- 

 siderations, any more than the number of the stamens. There is 

 no reason to suppose that the anatomy of the leaf is a better clue to 

 the affinity of the plant than the position of the ovule. The result 

 of attempting a new classification of plants on a single character 

 (in this case the anatomy of the stem) is well shown in Dr. Palla's 

 revision of the genus Scirpus in Engler, Jahrb. v. 10 [1889] , p. 239, 

 where his first genus Dichostylis contains plants from the whole 

 range of Cyperese and Scirpeae as understood by Bentham or 

 Boeckeler, but displaying similar characters in stem. 



Now M. Vesque has done nothing of this kind. He has strictly 

 subordinated his characters from leaf anatomy to the general 

 weight of all other characters. The utmost that can be said 

 against the anatomical method, as introduced by M. Vesque, is that 

 it makes his book 15 per cent, heavier than it otherwise would be ; 

 it does not make it more troublesome to find other matters. 

 M. Vesque has said himself (p. 5) the best word for his work 

 " On voit qu'au fond la difference entre cette methode et celle 

 anciennement suivie n'est pas aussi grande qu'on pouvait le croire 

 au premier abord." 



The volume is of 613 pages (exclusive of Index), and includes 

 4907 species. 0< B< Clahke . 



A Student's Text-book of Botany. By Sidney H. Vines, M.A., D.Sc, 

 F.B.S. (First Half, pp. x. 430, figs. 279. Price 7s. 6d. Swan 

 Sonnenschein & Co. 1894). 

 Prof. Vines has produced this part of a new and distinct book 

 intended to replace the English editions of Prantl's Lehrbuch which 

 he edited, with the view of meeting the requirements of English 

 students by extending greatly the scope of the original book while 

 retaining features that made it valuable to beginners. There are 

 also additional illustrations, derived mainly from Strasburger's 



