262 
Review. 
THE LIVING CYCADS. 
“ The Living Cycads.” By C. J. Chambeklain. (The University of Chicago 
Science series). 
I N this particularly attractive little book Professor Chamberlain 
introduces the layman to one of the most interesting classes 
in the plant kingdom and provides the botanist with an 
appetiser for the more serious repast which, we hope, will be ready 
at an early date. No author is better qualified than the Chicago 
Professor to deal with recent Cycads: his account of the nine 
genera makes his less fortunate readers envious of his good fortune 
in having been priviliged to make the intimate acquaintance of 
plants known to most botanists only in cultivation or as dried 
specimens. In the summer of 1914 I experienced the thrill caused 
by the first sight of a Cycad growing in the Australian bush and I am 
therefore able to appreciate the pleasure enjoyed by one who is on 
speaking terms with the whole family in both the West and East 
hemispheres. Within a small compass, though his account is not 
too condensed to be intelligible to the general reader, Professor 
Chamberlain describes the habits, habitats, and distribution of the 
Cycads, their life-history, and general morphology. In the third 
part of the book the difficult problem of the evolution of the group 
is handled with skill and on orthodox lines. Both the Cycads and 
the Bennettitales are regarded as offshoots of an ancient filicinean 
stock; it is recognised that the female part of the cone of the 
Mesozoic Bennettitales cannot be regarded as the source of the 
female cone of a recent Cycad. We are still far from having solved 
the question of the degree of relationship between the Cycadofilices 
and the Perns. It may be, as Dr. Scott suggested at the recent 
meeting of the British Association, that we must substantially 
modify opinions which have been prevalent during the last two 
decades. Our knowledge of the past history of the true Cycads as 
distinct from the Bennettitales is exceedingly meagre: the two 
classes of the Cycadophyta are in some respects strikingly alike, 
while in others they are far apart, and the pre-Mesozoic history of 
the group is by no means clear. 
The volume is admirably illustrated and, while one may be 
unconvinced by the evolutionary views, there can be no difference of 
opinion as to the success with which the author has presented the 
story of one of the most fascinating groups of seed-plants. It is 
pertinent to ask why the volumes in the University of Chicago 
Science series bear no date on the title-page or elsewhere. 
A. C. SEWARD. 
