﻿Bower 
  — 
  Botanical 
  Research 
  during 
  the 
  War. 
  11 
  7 
  

  

  Art. 
  IV. 
  — 
  Botanical 
  Research 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  Kingdom 
  

   during 
  the 
  War; 
  by 
  Prof. 
  F. 
  0. 
  Bower, 
  F.E.S. 
  1 
  

  

  The 
  absence 
  of 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  younger 
  botanists 
  at 
  the 
  

   war, 
  and 
  the 
  death 
  of 
  some, 
  has 
  naturally 
  restricted 
  the 
  

   output 
  of 
  botanical 
  research 
  in 
  Britain. 
  But 
  it 
  has 
  by 
  no 
  

   means 
  stopped 
  it, 
  as 
  the 
  continuous 
  publication 
  of 
  the 
  

   leading 
  journals, 
  notwithstanding 
  difficulties 
  of 
  printing, 
  

   paper, 
  and 
  illustrations, 
  fully 
  shows. 
  The 
  Annals 
  of 
  

   Botany, 
  for 
  instance, 
  has 
  shrunk. 
  Comparing 
  the 
  volume 
  

   of 
  1917 
  with 
  that 
  of 
  1914, 
  it 
  is 
  less 
  by 
  about 
  1/3 
  of 
  its 
  

   pages, 
  and 
  about 
  % 
  of 
  its 
  figures. 
  But 
  already 
  one 
  

   botanist, 
  twice 
  wounded, 
  and 
  invalided 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  Army, 
  

   has 
  returned 
  to 
  his 
  laboratory, 
  and 
  is 
  publishing 
  his 
  

   results. 
  There 
  is 
  also 
  the 
  steady 
  flow 
  of 
  memoirs 
  from 
  

   other 
  sources 
  ; 
  substantial 
  treatises 
  are 
  also 
  appearing. 
  

   For 
  instance, 
  Professor 
  West's 
  volume 
  on 
  Fresh 
  Water 
  

   Algae 
  (1916) 
  inaugurates 
  a 
  new 
  Series 
  of 
  Cambridge 
  

   Botanical 
  Handbooks 
  designed 
  for 
  specialists, 
  and 
  very 
  

   luxuriously 
  produced. 
  The 
  Cambridge 
  Press 
  has 
  also 
  

   published 
  the 
  third 
  volume 
  of 
  Professor 
  Seward's 
  great 
  

   work 
  on 
  Fossil 
  Plants, 
  dealing 
  with 
  primitive 
  seed-bear- 
  

   ing 
  plants 
  (1917). 
  2 
  The 
  concluding 
  volume, 
  which 
  will 
  

   contain 
  a 
  survey 
  of 
  the 
  successive 
  floras 
  of 
  the 
  world, 
  is 
  

   promised 
  shortly. 
  

  

  Of 
  morphological 
  discoveries 
  since 
  the 
  outbreak 
  of 
  war 
  

   the 
  most 
  important 
  relate 
  to 
  the 
  Psilotales 
  and 
  kindred 
  

   forms 
  : 
  — 
  plants 
  which 
  by 
  their 
  early 
  occurrence 
  and 
  their 
  

   characters 
  were 
  already 
  recognized 
  as 
  likely 
  to 
  give 
  the 
  

   key 
  to 
  the 
  morphology 
  of 
  primitive 
  vascular 
  plants. 
  In 
  

   1914, 
  the 
  living 
  Psilotacese 
  were 
  the 
  only 
  remaining 
  

   Pteridophytes 
  of 
  which 
  the 
  sexual 
  generation 
  was 
  not 
  

   known. 
  Prof. 
  Laws 
  on 
  on 
  his 
  appointment 
  to 
  the 
  chair 
  

   in 
  Sydney 
  set 
  himself 
  to 
  fill 
  this 
  gap. 
  He 
  has 
  discovered 
  

   the 
  prothalli 
  of 
  both 
  genera, 
  and 
  described 
  them 
  with 
  

   ample 
  illustration 
  in 
  the 
  Transactions 
  of 
  the 
  Royal 
  

   Society 
  of 
  Edinburgh 
  (1917). 
  They 
  are 
  both 
  sapro- 
  

   phytes, 
  and 
  show 
  general 
  resemblance 
  to 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  

   Ophioglossacese. 
  Thus 
  the 
  period 
  of 
  the 
  war 
  has 
  filled 
  

   the 
  last 
  conspicuous 
  gap 
  in 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  life 
  histories 
  

  

  1 
  Edit. 
  Note. 
  — 
  This 
  paper 
  was 
  received 
  some 
  months 
  since 
  but 
  seems 
  

   worthy 
  of 
  publication 
  even 
  at 
  this 
  comparatively 
  late 
  date. 
  

  

  2 
  Noticed 
  in 
  vol. 
  46, 
  p. 
  475. 
  

  

  Am. 
  Jour. 
  Sci.— 
  Fourth 
  Series, 
  Vol. 
  XLVII, 
  No. 
  278.— 
  February, 
  1919. 
  

   9 
  

  

  