No. 445-] NOTES AND LITERATURE. 



79 



The treatment of the embryo is very satisfactory and leaves little 

 to be desired. The discussion of parthenogenesis and polyembryony 

 is especially good. 



Except for the chapter on the phylogeny of the angiosperms, the lat- 

 ter chapters might have been entirely omitted without the value of the 

 book being seriously impaired. The chapters on classification are 

 entirely too brief to be of much value to the beginner, and the special- 

 ist will prefer to consult Engler & Prantl's Natiir/ic/ie Pflanzenfamil- 

 ien, from which the substance of these chapters is borrowed. 



The chapter on geographical distribution is very fragmentary, and 

 leaves something to be desired, also, in the matter of accuracy. For 

 instance, we doubt whether the statements as to the relative numbers 

 of Archichlamydese Sympetalai and Monocotyledons will bear close 

 examination. Thus the statement that the Archichlamydea." and 

 monocotyledons are relatively more numerous in the tropics than in 

 temperate regions may be questioned. In round numbers the species 

 of monocotyledons. Archichlamydea; and Sympetalat are 20.000. 

 60,000 and 40,000. A tabulation of the number of spei it s in the 

 Northeastern states is given in Britton & Brown — the numbers are 

 respectively 1058, 1601 and 1361. It is thus seen that while the 

 Sympetalai are relatively slightly in excess, this is very much more 

 marked in the monocotyledons, which our authors assert are rela- 

 tively more numerous in the tropics. Two tropical floras were 

 examined, Hawaii and the West Indies. In the former the figures 

 are taken from Wallace's Island Life. The numbers are mono- 

 cotyledons, 137; Archichlamydeai, 271; Sympetala;, 318. There is 

 thus a marked predominance of Sympetalae, and a deficiency of 

 Monocotyledons and Archichlamydea;, directly the reverse of the 

 statement given by the authors. In the West Indies {(iriesebac h. 

 Flora of the British West Indies) the numbers are approximately. 

 Monocotyledons, 713; Archichlamydea-, 1456: Sympetalae. 913. 

 The monocotyledons in both cases are relatively less abundant than 

 in the strictly temperate flora of the Northeast Tnited States. 



The statement that the Archichlamydeiii have developed no charac- 

 teristically boreal group, while the F>icales are essentially boreal, is 

 not in accordance with the facts. The authors themselves have 

 called attention to the peculiarly austral family of Ericales, the Epa- 

 crideae, and scattered ericaceous genera occur in the tropics, both of 

 the old and new worlds. We should certainly consider the Salicales 

 as quite as distinctively a boreal group as the Ericales. 



The chapter on the phylogeny of the angiosperms contains much 



