24 
REVIEWS. 
Myxomycetes (p. 6) are not now included among the Zygosporese, it 
being at last recognised by our German friends that the “ analogy ” 
of the plasmodium to a zygospore existed only in a distorted 
imagination. The ungrammatical “ and which ” on the same page 
(line 19) makes the sentence bear a meaning that is not intended. 
It is nearly time, moreover, that British cryptogamists learned to 
call the formation of new plants by ordinary vegetative growth by 
the name of “multiplication,” confining the term “reproduction” 
to the cases in which some act of sexual union actually or presumably 
takes place. The English student who reads that the spores formed 
within the sporangium of Mucor are called “ conidia ” (p. 6) will 
probably stare with surprise, although in so naming them the authors 
are in accordance with the very latest German dictum. The genus 
Micrasterium (p. 5) would be a new one to most collectors of Desmids. 
Again, the statement (p. 9) that the “ Rust of wheat, JEcidium 
berberidis ,” is “ also known as Puccinia graminis ,” is very misleading ; 
it is easy to present the facts in a way which will convey to a layman 
the meaning intended, but certainly not expressed. 
The Equisetineae (p. 12), which ought to be placed after the 
Filicineac, possess, equally with the other Vascular Cryptogams, both 
isosporous and heterosporous forms, the latter being represented by 
the fossil Annulariae and possibly by Asterophyllites. Despite a few 
errors of this kind the book is a useful and readable one. the chief 
distinctions between the various classes and subdivisions of animals 
and plants being described with remarkable clearness, and the 
examples of each, taken from the Chester district itself, being 
numerous and well chosen. W. B. G. 
The British Moss Flora. By R. Braithwaite, M.D., F.L.S., &c. Part 
VIII. Fam. VIII. Tortulacese I. Small 4to.; 6s. The Author, 
303, Clapham Road, S.W. 
However bryologists may differ in their views of classification and 
nomenclature from the author of this elegant work, I am convinced 
that all will agree in ascribing to him the highest praise for his power 
as a delineator and for his clearness as a descriptive botanist. The 
present part contains six plates, with illustrations of forty-two species, 
and the text embraces descriptions of the various species belonging to 
the genera Ephemerum, Acaulon, Pliascum, Pottia , and part of Tortula. 
Both the illustrations and descriptions are excellent, and make one 
wish that so valuable a work could make more rapid progress. With 
regard to the classification the author remarks, “This widely dis¬ 
tributed family, so rich in species—for it includes probably not less 
than 800—is a most difficult one to deal with, and has taxed the 
ingenuity of every bryologist to arrange the species in well-defined 
genera. The variations in habit, colour, and leaf structure afford 
more stable ground for generic characters than the peristome, and 
this was first advocated by Mr. Mitten in his Musci Indice Or. (1859); 
but there has been an indisposition to break up the greit genus 
