Botany. 73 



details, was also able to show their general bearing without 

 indulging in excessive speculation. The contributions of Prof. 

 Campbell to the study of the development of higher cryptogams 

 have been numerous and important. In the present work his 

 large practical knowledge of the different orders and his wide 

 reading have enabled him to give an admirable summary of the 

 present state of our knowledge with regard to the group of plants 

 which, perhaps, above all others, are most important from a 

 phyllogenetic point of view. The book is by no means a mere 

 summary, but includes a large number of original observations, 

 the more important because they relate to imperfectly known 

 species of this country, and the illustrations are refreshingly 

 original and not the time-worn cuts which seemed destined to be 

 copied in all books, even those by experts. 



The proportions of the book are good, for the author has laid 

 more stress on typical structures than on specific details. Hence 

 we find about twice as many pages devoted to the Hepaticse, in 

 which there are several marked types of reproduction, as to the 

 Musci, in which generic and specific differences are the prominent 

 features. Furthermore, for purposes of phyllogenetic study, the 

 Hepaticse are, in the opinion of most modern writers, more sig- 

 nificant than Musci. We think that Prof. Campbell did well not 

 to offer a long introduction, but has made the subject clearer by 

 first giving a condensed account of each order and then expand- 

 ing the account of the suborders. If we congratulate Prof. 

 Campbell on what he has given us, we can also thank him for 

 what he has not given us. The terminology is simple and clear, 

 and he has not attempted to force upon us a new series of names 

 of different organs and structures to express what was sufficiently 

 well expressed before. Nor has he indulged in hair-splitting 

 theoretical discussions, the summary and conclusions being lim- 

 ited to ten pages. The book cannot be said to be easy reading ; 

 it is so full of facts that one must read slowly, and, in a short 

 review, one can hardly refer to details. We have noticed but 

 one statement which seems to us incorrect. On p. 40 it is said 

 that Ricciocarpus natans fruits only when growing upon the 

 earth. In eastern New England it fruits abundantly when 

 floating. w. g. f. 



3. Phycotheca, B or eali- Americana ; by F. S. Collins, Isaac 

 Holden and W. A. Setchell. — We are glad to notice the 

 appearance in rapid succession of the first three fascicles of this 

 valuable collection of North American algse. In form they 

 resemble the fascicles of the Phycotheca Generalis of Hauck and 

 Richter, each fascicle containing fifty species bound in folio. 

 The specimens are in excellent condition and well mounted and 

 the determinations of the species have been made with care and 

 accuracy, the labels being clear and full. The algae represented 

 in the series include species from fresh water as well as marine 

 and were collected in part in the West Indies and on the Pacific 

 coast, although the larger part are from the Northeastern States, 

 where the three botanists under whose supervision the Phyco- 



