BOOK REVIEWS. 
465 
on Marine Algae. The volume just issued is one of the series of 
" Cambridge Botanical Handbooks " edited by A. C. Seward and A. G. 
Tansley with the view of enabling students who so desire to pursue 
the subject of Algae beyond the limits of a general text -book, and to 
keep abreast, as far as possible, of recent discoveries and contri- 
butions to the literature of the subject. 
How extensive these contributions are is indicated by the long 
bibliographical lists on pp. 46, 81, 125, 153, 318, 381, 416, 448, the 
majority of the publications quoted having been issued since the 
publication of the author's treatise on fresh-water Algae, twelve years 
ago. This work has been out of print for several years, and the 
great accumulation of knowledge concerning the various groups of 
the fresh-water Algae has led to the replacement of the earlier work 
by two volumes. 
The present one consists of a biological account only, of all the 
Algae included in the Myxophyceae (Cyanophyceae), Peridinieae, 
Bacillariaceae, and Chlorophyceae, both fresh-water and marine, but 
is exclusive of the systematic arrangement and description of the 
species, which the author is preparing in the form of a second volume. 
This, when issued, is to include all the British fresh-water Algae (except 
the Diatoms and Desmids) known to occur in the British Islands, 
although the morphology and life-history of these two groups are 
dealt with in the present volume. 
One of the most useful chapters is that on the Peridinieae, since no 
comprehensive modern account of this group has previously been 
published in any English text-book, although, like the Flagellata 
(which are so large a group as to require separate treatment), they are 
important producers of organic substances, especially in the marine 
plankton, in that they store starch and oil as food reserves. 
Nearly half the volume is devoted to the Chlorophyceae, a large 
group to which, for many years, Professor West has devoted close 
attention, and in which among British algologists he is facile princeps. 
The author's views on the classification of the Chlorophyceae have 
therefore especial value, as being likely to be adopted for the future 
in botanical text -books in this country. He adopts the proposal of 
Blackman and Tansley in "The New Phytologist," in 1902, that 
the four primary divisions of this large group should be the Isokontae, 
Stephanokontae, Akontae, and Heterokontae. These Professor West 
subdivides as follows : 
The Isokontae now include the Protococcales, Siphonales, Siphono- 
cladiales, Schizogoniales, Ulvales, and Ulotrichales. The Akontae 
comprise the Conjugatae of previous authors, and the Stephanokontae 
include only the Oedogoniales, and the Heterokontae are subdivided 
into the Heterococcales, Heterotrichales, and Heterosiphonales. 
In the present state of our knowledge this seems a most satisfactory 
classification. The retention of the Vaucheriaceae in the Siphonales 
is far more reasonable than its removal to Heterokontae as suggested 
by Bohlin. 
VOL. XLII. 2 H 
