377 
Notices of Books and Papers. 
has done, and his book is founded in great measure upon this 
experience. He has spent a considerable portion of his time for 
several years visiting the collections of the most prominent workers, 
and has passed through his hands most of the important types 
described by authors; and so the whole subject has been sifted 
through one mind and been criticised by a trained and expert botanist, 
who has applied to each and all of the specimens submitted, the 
test of his own acute observation and logical reasoning; and we 
have now presented to us a treatise on the subject of some homo- 
geneity, and stamped throughout with the consistent method of 
one competent critic. 
The book begins with an introductory chapter in which the 
imperfection of the geological record is touched upon, and the various 
modes of preservation of plant remains as fossils is fully set forth, 
a considerable portion of the chapter being devoted to the question 
of the origin of coal, the modified allocthonous view of Grand-Eury 
being that to which the author inclines. Then comes a chapter 
on Thallophyta and Bryineae; the most interesting points in it 
being the clear exposition of the structure and relations of the 
Mesozoic Siphoneae, formerly classed with the Foraminifera, and 
the judicial summary of the dispute regarding the plant-nature of 
many Palaeozoic impressions. Chapter III deals with Coniferae 
and IV with Cycadeae, and in the latter the author makes a point 
of the structure and relationship of Bennettites , seeking to establish 
it as type of a group between Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. 
Next follows a chapter on the interesting extinct Cordaiteae, and one 
on allied forms such as Dolerophyllum Cannophy Hites, and others ; 
and then we come to Chapter VII on Filices, containing a remarkably 
clear and full statement of what is known of their morphology. 
Chapters VIII and IX contain accounts of Equisetaceae and the 
much discussed Traquairia and Sporocarpon, and of Lycopodites , 
P silophyton, and others, and the following chapters take up the subjects 
of Lepidodendreae, Sigillarieae, and Stigmaria. No more interesting 
passages will be found in the book than the discussions of the 
relations and affinities of these — the author staunchly upholding the 
view that Stigmaria belongs, as an underground part, to both 
Lepidodendreae and Sigillarieae. In Chapter XIII the Calamarieae 
are taken in hand, and the grouping of the forms into Archegoniate 
Calamiteae and Gymnospermous Calamodendreae is held to be 
