144 The American Naturalist. [February, 
tæ have long been most fruitful objects of research, and the bearing of 
the results of such investigations upon the terminations and the begin- 
nings of phylogenetic lines has been of absorbing interest. It was to 
be expected that such a field would attract the attention of many of 
the best botanists. So true is this, that the literature of botany for the 
past fifteen years has abounded in articles upon the morphology and 
the embryology of the Archegoniate. The activity of specialists along 
these lines has been so great that the general student has long since 
been compelled to relinquish the task of keeping himself accurately 
informed of the most recent investigations and theories. The publica- 
tion of these results in numerous diverse periodicals rendered all the 
more imperative the demand for their collation and co-ordination. 
Above all, it was desirable that these collected data should come to us, 
not as the compilation of some superficial student of the subject, per- 
haps, but as a judicious and discriminating compendium based upon no 
inconsiderable amount of original work. 
To the making of .a book for American students, no one, probably, 
could have brought out a longer experience or a greater knowledge of 
the subject than the author of the present volume. The collection and 
arrangement of the scattered data of numerous texts and their presen- 
tation, together with the extensive results of original research, has been 
done in a masterful manner. The information gained by the author’s 
-own investigations have enabled him to construct an admirable ground 
plan into which he has woven the results of others in a most skillfully 
relevant fashion. Though dealing with a subject not a little complica- 
ted, the general scheme of the text is particularly fortunate, and the 
‘subject matter itself much more than ordinarily perspicuous. 
A critical compilation entails the discussion of numerous antagonis- 
tic views and theories, and renders necessary a discriminating treat- 
ment of them. The author has here had no easy task and merits espe- 
cial congratulation upon the successful manner in which he has acquit- 
ted himself. It would have been no more than expected if he had per- 
mitted himself to incline rather strongly toward his own views upon 
mooted questions. Yet such is not the case. In all instances, the 
arguments on both sides have been presented in the fullest manner and, 
‘in some cases, in a spirit of fairness, he has conceded, perhaps, more 
than necessary. The bringing together of such a mass of facts and 
theories has given the author a rare opportunity to deduce the tenden- 
cies which they suggest, and to critically weigh the contradictory opin- 
ions to which they have given rise. This has been thoroughly done, 
and the book, besides standing as a most able symposium of the pres- , 
