No. 459.] NOTES AND LITERATURE 177 
British Desmidiace@.!— There has lately appeared the first 
volume of the Monograph of the British Desmidiacee by W. West 
and G. S. West. This is the third monograph that has been writ- 
ten on British desmids. The first was by Ralfs, in 1848, the second 
by Cooke, in 1887, the latter being mainly a compilation. Since 
the publication of Cook's work there have been 400 species and 402 
varieties added to the desmid flora of Great Britain. The present 
volume is prefaced by a brief historical account. A very full bibli- 
ography takes up the twenty pages preceding the introduction. In 
the introduction a very complete general account of the family is 
given, especial attention being paid to the cytological characters. A 
number of pages are devoted to the discussion of the following 
points: variation, locomotion, vegetative, asexual and sexual repro- 
duction, phylogenetic relationships, occurrence and distribution, 
collection and preservation, examination and specific determination. 
A diagrammatic table is given showing the phylogeny as worked out 
by the junior author a few years ago, The arrangement of the 
genera follows this scheme and an analytical key is given to all the 
genera recognized on this basis. This includes thirty-one genera, 
five of which have not been found in the British Isles. The remain- 
der of the volume is given up to the systematic treatment of twelve 
genera, concluding with Tetmemorus. Under each species or 
varietal name appear the following points: a short synonymy, brief 
diagnosis including the zygospore, when known, and the range of 
measurements, the British localities grouped under England, Wales, 
Scotland, and Ireland, the geographical distribution as far as known, 
followed usually by certain critical remarks. Asa rule the tendency 
seems to be to reduce the number of species and varieties instead of 
to increase, as is usually the tendency. One new species, Mesotenium 
truncatum, and several new varieties are described. The volume is 
illustrated by thirty-two plates, containing about six hundred figures, 
of which most are original and many are colored. qe 
! West, W., and West, G. S. Monograph of the British Desmidiacea, Vol. 1. 
London, Ray Society, 1904. 8vo, xxxvi + 224 pp. 32 pls. 
(No. 458 was issued March 23, 1905.) 
