GO 
THE JOURNAL OF ROT ANY 
surprise, the statement that Coprinus radiatus (Bolt.) Fr. is only a 
pigmy of his C. lag opus, and that the author has proved the same by 
growth in pure culture ; but, as we all know, Schoeter some years ago 
considered it was only the dwarf form of C. stercorarius (Bull.) Fr. 
The reader is in some doubt as to what Prof. Buller means by 
C. lag opus, as he gives no authority for this name, and at several 
places in this work he brackets it as = Q. jimetarius ; for nomen¬ 
clature of Coprinus lie professes (foot-note to p. 84) to follow 
that set out in Lange’s revision of the genus in his Studies in the 
Agarics of Denmark , but we find this author treats C. lagopus 
Fr. and C. jimetarius Linn, as distinct species. Faull’s discovery 
that the autumn-formed tubes of Domes foment arius only discharge 
their spores in the following May and also that the older layers 
of tubes are still fertile for several years agree with the experience of 
British mycologists, who always find that the best spore maps of 
the hard woody Polypores are obtained in the early spring. The 
statements that Discomycetes have smooth spores (see p. 33), the 
basidia of the Clavarise have four sterigmata (see p. 185), and Poly¬ 
pi or us giganteus , P. umbellatus, and P. frondosus are terrestrial 
(see p. 120) are incorrect; many of the Discomycetae have as rough, 
if not rougher, spores than the Basidiomycetae, many of the Clavarhe 
have only two sterigmata to the basidia, and Schroeter proposed his 
genus Clavulina, including such species as Clavaria cristata and 
C. cinerea L. for their reception, and these Polypores are often ligni- 
colous or grow in close association with certain trees. 
Apart from these small blemishes, the book is a very valuable 
addition to our knowledge of the larger fungi, and all mycologists 
will impatiently await the publication of the promised further 
volumes. 
Carleton Pea. 
Lows on's Text-book of Botany (Indian Edition). Revised and 
adapted by Birbal Saiini, M.A., M.Sc., and M. Willis, with 
a Preface by J. C. Willis, M.A., Sc.D. Third Edition. 8vo, 
pp. xii, 640. 332 figs, in text. London: University Tutorial 
Press, Ltd. 1922. Price 9s. Qd. 
The first (1913) and second editions (1919) of this work were 
reviewed at some length in this Journal (1914, p. 343, and 1919, 
p. 324) by the late Prof. Boulger, who criticized the book from two 
points of view—its value as a text-book of botany generally and as 
one specially adapted for Indian students. We agree with the posi¬ 
tion taken up by him on both these points. The aim of the book is 
obviously to enable students to pass examinations, and that it has 
survived so many years is a comment on the persistence of a method of 
teaching which can excite little interest in the science on the part 
of the student. The look of the pages suggests a diet of marbles or 
something almost as indigestible, and, as Prof. Boulger pointed 
out, for the Indian student, who is given to learning by rote, the 
marshalling of many facts in short paragraphs with leaded head-lines 
is particularly unsuitable. The opportunity is still open for Mr. Salmi 
