SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
ag (2 LPL PRO RORY LUPUS ULULIDY 
Heredity and Hvolution in Plants, by C. Stuart Gager. Pp. xiii.+265, with 
113 illustrations. P. Blakiston’s Son & Co., Phil., 1920. This book, which has 
been sent to us by the publishers, contains an excellent account of all the theories 
which have been advanced up to the present on the subject of Heredity and Evolu- 
tion, especially with reference to plant life. The author, who is Director of the 
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, introduces two chapters, written in popular language, 
on the history of the fern, to provide a clear conception of the facts of the life- 
history of a typical vascular plant. This appears to be the only fault to be 
found, as the standard is not in keeping with the rest of the work. If the text 
is for advanced students—as the preface says that “Certain information per- 
tinent only to an elementary text-book has been omitted ’”’—then an elementary 
introduction was unnecessary. If the text is an elementary one—the preface 
again states that “The following pages shall prove to be a source of reliable 
-and readable elementary information ”—it is very much to be doubted that~ 
even this account will be sufficient to enable any person without some previous 
knowledge of botany to assimilate the information given in the following 
chapters. A chapter on Heredity generally is followed by one on the Experimental 
Study of Heredity, in which the simple facts of the Mendelian ratio and tho 
tests by which it can be proved are explained. The value of its discovery and 
the unsolved problems in connexion with Mendelism are tabulated. Weismann’s 
germ-plasm theory and its bearing on the inheritance of acquired characters 
is discussed. The next chapter treats of Evolution with its various ‘hypotheses, 
a separate chapter being devoted to Darwinism. ‘The solution of the problems 
left unsolved by Darwin were attacked by biologists in an experimental way, 
and the chapter on Experimental Evolution explains such methods, especially 
associated with the work of de Vries. The evolution of plants is then examined, 
and the evidence as to the course of evolution is taken from the comparative 
life-histories and anatomy of living forms, geographical distribution, and 
palxobotany. Chapters are devoted to each of these subjects. A lengthy com- 
parison is drawn between the seed-bearing plants to be found in fossil records 
- and the most primitive cycads of to-day. The final chapters give an account of 
the monophyletic and polyphyletic theories of the origins of modern plant orders, 
and the relationship between all the great groups of plants, both living and 
fossil. The book is particularly well illustrated throughout. There are many 
interesting photographs, drawings, and test figures, and some very instructive 
and original graphic diagrams. The photographs of the more prominent autho- 
rities on history and evolution add a mersonal touch. A useful bibliography iis 
also included. Altogether, it would be difficult to find such an amount of infor- 
mation written in such clear and concise language, and right up to date, in any 
single book on this’popular subject. Both author and publisher have earried out 
their parts well. 
The Forests of Western Australia.—Persons interested in the forests 
and forest products and industries of Western Australia will find a great deal 
of information on these subjects in a handbook just published by the 
State Government, and compiled by Mr. @. RB. Lane-Poole, Conservator 
_of Forests. The author is to be complimented on taking this step 
to focus attention upon a matter of vital concern to Western Australia 
for the book should prove a most effective instrument in developing a 
public consciousness of the close relationship that exists between the State’s 
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