Botany and Zoology. 245 



ology in the University of Chicago; pp. x + 428, with 415 figures 

 in text. New York, 1898 (Henry Holt & Company). — As stated 

 in the preface, Professor Barnes' text-book attempts " to exhibit 

 the variety and progressive complexity of the vegetative body ; 

 to discuss the more important functions ; to explain the unity of 

 plan in both the structure and action of the reproductive organs ; 

 and finally to give an outline of the more striking ways in which 

 plants adapt themselves to the world about them." The four 

 parts into which it is divided deal accordingly with the following 

 subjects : I. The Plant Body ; II. Physiology ; III. Reproduc- 

 tion ; and IV. Ecology. It will be seen, therefore, that the book 

 is very comprehensive in its plan and that most of the great 

 divisions of modern botany receive a certain amount of attention. 

 The topics are, with few exceptions, treated according to recent 

 researches, but the very comprehensiveness of the subject makes 

 great conciseness necessary, and it is to be feared that some of 

 the statements are so concise as to be obscure, at least to pupils 

 from thirteen to eighteen years of age, for whom the book is pri- 

 marily intended. The arrangement of the subject-matter, also, 

 although logical, might readily lead the pupil to believe that a 

 plant is composed of certain definite and more or less discon- 

 nected parts, instead of being an organism whose parts, although 

 distinct enough from a formal standpoint, are nevertheless so 

 intimately connected and so dependent upon one another that 

 they form a most definite whole : in other words, that botany is 

 the study of plant-organs rather than of plants. For example, 

 under " simple sporangia" on page 316, the sporangium of Mucor, 

 the ascus of Peziza and the tetrasporangium of Polysiphonia are 

 described in due order ; but, if we wish to find other facts about 

 Polysiphonia, we must look on page 32, for a description and 

 figures of the vegetative structure, and on page 289, for a figure of 

 the cystocarp : and other, even more striking examples might be 

 quoted. The short section on ecology, which, as the author 

 implies, is largely abridged from two recent German works, is an 

 interesting feature of the book, and, it is to be hoped, will demon- 

 strate to teachers how very useful this important department of 

 botany might become for purposes of instruction. At the close 

 •of the book are five appendixes in which laboratory directions, 

 lists of apparatus, reagents and reference books, and a very brief 

 outline of classification are given. a. w. e. 



3. Bhodora : Journal of the New England Botanical Club, 

 Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2, January and February, 1899. Boston and 

 Providence. — After mature consideration, the New England 

 Botanical Club has decided to publish a journal devoted to the 

 interests of New England botany. The first two numbers have 

 recently appeared, and the editorial announcement states that 

 the journal will devote special attention to- matters connected 

 with the geographical distribution of New England plants and to 

 the revision of difficult or misunderstood groups of species. It 

 also states that "not only flowering plants, but ferns, mosses and 



