FROPLANTERNE (sPERMATOFYTER) 135 



three-colour process, for which the reader is largely indebted to 

 the generosity of Miss Lister. The plates, both coloured and 

 uncoloured, are of great beauty. 



There is only one suggestion which I should venture to make, 

 viz., that in a future edition the index of the plates should be 

 consolidated with the index of the text, so that one reference 

 would guide to both parts of the book. 



The work as it now stands is well worthy of its authors, 

 members of a family which in three successive generations has 

 given to the Eoyal Society four Fellows, one of them a President. 



Edward Fry. 



Froplanterne {Spermatofyter). Af Dr. Eug. Warming. 8vo, 

 pp. 467, with 591 text-figures. Gyldendalske Boghandel, 

 Copenhagen & Ohristiania. 1912. Price 10 Kroner. 



Dr. Warming's Handbook of Systematic Botany is well known 

 to English students in the translation edited by Prof. M. C. Potter. 

 It is an admirable exposition of the orders and families of plants, 

 and has been of special value as presenting an account of the 

 seed-plants in accordance with the views more generally accepted 

 by modern systematists. It is highly probable that these view^s 

 will undergo modification, but much remains to be done before 

 systems based on the general lines laid done by Eichler, such as 

 are those elaborated by Dr. Warming and Dr. Engler, can be 

 set aside by arrangements more nearly expressing the facts of 

 phylogeny. 



In his new work, the publication of which coincides with his 

 retirement from active service, Dr. Warming has elaborated the 

 account of the seed-plants given in the earlier work. The first 

 sixty-seven pages are devoted to a phylogenetic introduction — a 

 comparative study of the life-history of the Mosses and Ferns and 

 the relationship to these of the higher plants, especially in con- 

 nection with the development of the gametophyte stage. This 

 portion is profusely and helpfully illustrated by figures after 

 Chamberlain, Webber, and other approved workers on this phase 

 of morphology. Then follows a brief systematic treatment of 

 the Gymnosperms (pp. 68-83) under four classes — Cycadinae, 

 Ginkgoinae, Coniferae, and Gnetina3 ; of which the Coniferae are 

 subdivided into three orders — Taxales, Pinales, and Cupressales. 

 The remainder of the book is a systematic account of the Angio- 

 sperms arranged under the two classes — Monocotyledons and 

 Dicotyledons. 



The treatment is similar to that of the Handbook, but fuller. 

 There are, however, some differences in the arrangement of the 

 orders or groups of families. Under Monocotyledons nine orders 

 are recognized, as compared with seven in the earlier work ; this 

 is due to the breaking up of the older Spadiciflorae into three — 

 Pandanales, Palmales, and Arales. The sequence remains the 

 same except that Scitaminales is now placed after Orchidales at 

 the end of the series. 



