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wood, leaves, flowers, fruit. The common names, so far as known, 

 are given. Another important feature is that more than half of 

 the 340 illustrations are from photographs. There is also a good 

 key to the species and a comprehensive glossary. That the book 

 is a fine specimen of the book-maker's art is beyond question. If 

 we could have but one book on trees, we should certainly choose 

 this one. 



It is safe to say that a large majority of our botanists have 

 but a hazy idea of the lower forms of plant life. All too fre- 

 quently the individual who browses among flowering plants imag- 

 ines the domain of botany to stop somewhere short of the mosses, 

 and is quite willing to let the lower plants go as not worth atten- 

 tion. The excuse for this neglect of the lower plants was that 

 one's knowledge of such forms had to be sought in many and often 

 rare books, making it often difficult or impossible to study them. 

 Now that it is becoming fashionable to have at least a speaking 

 acquaintance with them, the botanist will welcome Prof. Under- 

 wood's book on M Moulds, Mildews and Mushrooms," { which in a 

 single volume gives an account of the more conspicuous North 

 American species. The book is mainly devoted to " the conspic- 

 uous fleshy and woody fungi, the cup fungi and the genera con- 

 taining parasitic species." There are nearly a thousand genera of 

 fungi in America, and almost countless species— too many to be 

 included in one Manual. The author has therefore begun with 

 the Phycomycetes, giving keys by which the student may trace 

 his plants to at least the orders are genera, accompanied by a gen- 

 eral discussion of their relationships and references to the litera. 

 ture concerning them. Then follow, in the order named, the 

 Ascomycetes, Fungi Imperfecti, Basidiomycetes and the Myxomy- 

 cetes treated in like manner. In view of the attention at present 

 paid to the edible fungi, the part of the book which treats of these 

 is more elaborate. By its use the student should be able to dis- 

 tinguish the harmless species of mushrooms and other edible fungi. 

 There are also chapters on the study of mycology, methods of 

 collecting and preserving fungi, the relation of fungi to other 

 plants, the reproduction, constituents and habits of fungi, etc. 

 This is the first American book to bring together information of 

 this character, and it is destined to have a wide circulation. 



t " Moulds, Mildews and Mushrooms," a guide to the systematic study 

 of the fungi and Mycetozoa and their literature. By Lucien Marcus Under- 

 wood. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 12 mo., 227 pp. $1.25. 



