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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



' " Fossil Plants: for Students of Botany and Geology." By A. C. 

 Seward, M.A., F.E.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Cam- 

 bridge. Vol. I:, demy 8vo., 452 pp., 112 illustrations. Vol. II., 

 demy 8vo. , 624 pp. and 265 illustrations. (University Press, Cam- 

 bridge, 1898 and 1910.) 10s. and 15s. net. 



Fossil Botany has. made great strides since 1898, when Professor 

 Seward published vol. i. of his book and expressed his intention to 

 complete the work by the issue of a second volume. Pressure of other 

 work delayed the appearance of the second volume, but the delay can 

 hardly be called a misfortune for Professor Seward, since, if the work 

 had been completed within two or three years' of the publication of 

 vol. i., most of the matter of .vol. ii. would now be out of date. Eecent 

 work on fossil plants has not only added to. the number of types 

 known, but it has also altered our whole conception of the floras of 

 past ages. The Carboniferous Period, for example, is no longer the 

 golden age of the Cryptogams and nothing more : it is also the age of 

 Pteridosperms, and we begin to see foreshadowed the rise of the higher 

 flowering plants. 



Professor Seward has therefore found it necessary to extend his 

 original scheme in order that the various groups of fossil plants shall 

 receive equality of treatment. He has consequently reserved for a 

 third volume his account of the Fossil Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. 

 The Pteridosperms are commenced in vol. ii., but will be treated more 

 fully in vol. iii., which will also contain " some account of the neglected 

 subject of the geographical distribution of plants at different stages of 

 the history of the earth." The subject of " distribution," as Mr. Pick- 

 wick would say, " comprises by itself a difficult study of no inconsider- 

 able magnitude. " We shall therefore not be surprised, and certainly not 

 be disappointed, if Professor Seward still further extends his scheme, 

 so that, ultimately, there are four volumes instead of two. 



It is expected that any work w^hich finds a , place in the Cambridge 

 Biological Series will be full, accurate, and well written. Professor 

 Seward's work is well worthy of a place in the series. There is room 

 for a really full . standard work on fossil plants, such as this will be. 

 Miss Stopes' " Ancient Plants " is, of course, a small " semi-popular " 

 volume, and Dr. Scott's Studies " were not intended to cover the 

 whole of the ground. ^The present v/ork, when completed, will give 

 a fairly full account of every group of fossil plants known. 



Part i. of vol. i. contains an historical survey of the progress of ; 

 the subject and chapters giving such geological facts as are necessary | 

 to botanists who have had little systematic geological training. No | 

 attempt, however, is made to deal with the elements of botany for j 

 the benefit of geological students. Perhaps this is wise, since an 

 ap^preciation of fossil botany is only possible to those' who have a 

 practical, if elementary, acquaintance with the anatomy of plants, and 

 this can only be obtained in tlie laboratory. The groups treated in 

 vol. i. are the Thallophyta, the Bryophyta,' and (of the Pteridophyta) 

 the groups Equisetales and Sphenophyllales. Vol. ii. begins with 



