28 
Review. 
The first part of the book, which, except fora Latin description 
of the characters of the group, is in German, opens with a brief 
bibliography of the subject and proceeds with a detailed and 
exhaustive account of the vegetative organs, anatomy, floral 
structure, fruit and seed, pollination, fertilisation, embryology, 
geographical distribution, economic uses, and relationships of the 
group. The theoretical views as to the nature of the female flower 
held by Celakovsky, Schumann, Strasburger, and Eichler are dis¬ 
cussed, and a brief account of fossil Taxaceae put forward. 
The author’s careful and clear description of the floral structure 
of these plants (including that of a new genus Acmopyle), will be 
found to be especially valuable, for never before, we think, have the 
members of this strange group been treated in such a co-ordinated, 
scientific fashion, nor arranged in such an accessible whole. To 
take an example in detail: the way in which the natural sequence of 
forms is traced beteen the imperfectly developed outer envelope 
(here termed the “ epimatium") of the ovule in Microcaclirys to its 
perfected equivalent in Podocarpus, by means of the stages exhibited 
by different species of Dacrydhun , is very interesting. It is merely 
in parenthesis we add that in the author’s views on the morphology 
of the parts described we do not share. 
The body of the work is composed of Latin diagnoses of 
the Genera, descriptions of all known species being given, while 
after each generic heading a useful key to the species finds its place. 
The illustrations form one of the admirable features of the 
book, in which for the first time a wealth of clearly and accurately- 
executed detail has been collected together for our study. We may 
mention, e.g., that no fewer than twenty-two species of Podocarpus 
are represented in the figures. Many of the drawings are original, 
while others are reproductions from well-known sources. 
W.CAV. 
