1897.] Recent Literature. 143: 
which destroy their crops, and to study and become familiar with the 
facts that have already been established by investigators he will have 
rendered an incalculable service. He next refers to the diverse forms 
and various stages in the life histories of many disease-producing para- 
sites and the necessity of knowing all the facts connected with the con- 
ditions of their propagation and growth, and the importance of this 
knowledge as a basis in devising means of preventing or combatting 
them. It seems to us he might well have urged in addition the need 
of a comprehensive knowledge of the complex physiological activities 
of plants under normal conditions, as this must be the basis for an un- 
derstanding of abnormal or pathological conditions, and must precede 
any rational treatment of such conditions. 
The remainder of the introduction is devoted to detailed directions 
for the use of the microscope. These directions are intended for be- 
ginners, and cover the simple manipulations of the instrument as used 
in the elementary study of plant histology. 
The various parasites of which the volume treats are arranged in 
systematic order. The first part treats of “Cryptogamic Parasites 
other than Fungi.” These are discussed in two chapters, one on Bac- 
teria and one on Myxomycetes. The second part treats of “ Parasitic 
Fungi,” to which five chapters are devoted in the following order : 
Phycomycetes, Ustilaginexe, Uradinex, Basidiomycetes and Ascomyce- 
tes. The style is rather concise and exact, though not so technical as 
to make the work forbidding or unintelligible to the non-scientific 
reader. The numerous figures, though in many cases crude, give a 
fair idea of the general characters of the object represented. It would 
seem that in a work intended for the use of agriculturists and horticul- 
turists more attention might profitably have been given to the treat- 
ment of the diseases discussed. There can be no doubt, however, of 
the usefulness of the work, and if the class for whom it is especially in- 
tended can be prevailed upon to use it, it will assist greatly in popular- 
izing and advancing a branch of botany which is at present in its in- 
fancy, but which is destined to great growth in the near future. 
C. L. SHEAR. 
Campbell’s Mosses and Ferns.*—This book has appeared at a 
most opportune time in the history of botanical science, if, indeed, a 
long-wished for book can ever fail to be opportune. The Archegonia- 
5 The Structure and Development of the Mosses and Ferns (Archegoniatæ), by 
Douglas Houghton Campbell, Ph, D., Professor of Botany in the Leland Stanford 
Junior University. Macmillan and Company, London and New York, 544 pp.,. 
8vo 
