440 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XLV 



results already obtained by workers in this field offer great in- 

 ducements to the young botanist. It must not be inferred that 

 no interest is shown in the study of fossil plants by American 

 workers, but paleobotany has not received the same attention 

 here as in England. 2 



The many important contributions to the study of fossil plants 

 by Scott and Seward are familiar to all students of paleobotany, 

 and their treatises have the stamp of authority. Miss Stopes has 

 published papers of much value, and her little volume presents 

 in clear and fairly untechnical language some of the most impor- 

 tant topics of the science. While the books of Professors Scott 

 and Seward are designed primarily for botanical students, and 

 are necessarily technical in their treatment, Miss Stopes 's volume 

 is intended mainly for the layman, and seems well suited to its 

 purpose. 



Professor Scott's two volumes deal almost entirely with the 

 vascular plants, especially the Pteridophytes, which, as might be 

 expected from the author's intimate knowledge of these forms, 

 are handled in a thoroughly adequate fashion. The first volume 

 treats of the Pteridophytes proper, while the second deals with 

 the seed-bearing forms, including a very full and satisfactory 

 treatment of those seed-bearing ferns, the " Pteridosperms " or 



I'vcadofilices.*' the invest iiiations of which during the last ten 

 or fifteen years have made such profound changes in our con- 

 ceptions of the nature of the fern-like plants of the Paleozoic. 



The Cycads and their fossil relations, the Benettiteae, or 

 Cycadeoideae, are also treated at length, and the Cordaitales 

 receive ample treatment; but the Conifers are passed over very 

 briefly, and no account at all is given of the fossil Angiosperms, 

 a group which is in woeful need of careful treatment by com- 

 petent investigators. 



Professor Seward's work is on a somewhat larger scale, and 

 takes into account the whole vegetable kingdom. The work is, 

 however, incomplete as yet. The present volume, the second of 

 a proposed series of three, is devoted mainly to the Lycopods and 

 ferns. The former volume comprised the Thallophytes and 

 Bryophytes, together with the most of the Equisetinea?. The 

 third and concluding volumes proposes to deal with the seed- 

 bearing plants, including the Pteridosperms. 



aluable features. The important work of Wieland, 



are treated at length, and this section of the book 



