46 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
melts, the water is then reabsorbed by the cells, turgor is re¬ 
gained, and thus the bud may safely experience several freezings 
and thawings. C. S. G. 
REVIEWS. 
Life History of Pinus. 
Students of morphology, already familiar with Dr. Margaret 
C. Ferguson’s (1901, 1903) work on Pinus, will welcome her 
“ Contributions to the Knowledge of the Life History of Pinus 
with Special Reference to Sporogenesis, the development of the 
Gametophytes and Fertilization.” This book embodies the sub¬ 
stance of her former papers together with the results of her 
further study of the pines. It is a volume of 202 pages and 
twenty-four handsomely executed plates, and is published as Vol. 
6 of the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 
The work was given especial honorable mention on April 26, 
1903, by the Association for Maintaining the American Women’s 
Table at the Zoological Station at Naples and for Promoting 
Scientific Research by Women. While, as the author states, 
“ mere mass work does not signify excellence,” still one’s con¬ 
fidence in Dr. Ferguson’s results is greatly increased by the fact 
that her research involved the imbedding of “ nearly six hun¬ 
dred paraffin blocks,” and the study of “ more than four thousand 
slides of serial sections.” The study of “ more than two thou¬ 
sand pollen tubes ” would certainly be more likely to reveal 
the general truth concerning the sequence of events in their de¬ 
velopment than would the study of three or four hundred which 
more nearly represents the usual extent of observations in re¬ 
search work. It is hardly possible to overemphasize the need 
of putting up and studying large quantities of material. 
The five chapters treat of microsporogenesis, the male gameto- 
phyte, macrosporogenesis, the female gametophyte, fertilization 
and related phenomena. Abnormal conditions are treated in an 
appendix. 
The archesporium is not found in P. strobus until May, but in 
most other species it develops late in the fall. Qualitative reduc- 
