Volume 1 of the “Flora of Texas” has just been published in book form, including illustrated treatments of all or parts of the following groups of Texas plants: Pteridophyta, Boraginaceae, Acanthaceae, Polemoniaceae, Gymnospermae, Potamogetonaceae, and Cyperaceae.
The publicatiton of paperback books in the field of biology has now become a recognized trend. The unparalleled rate of progress in the discovery of new biological facts results in a conventional textbook being out-dated before it is ever published. The titles in the present series are somewhat like expanded articles in periodicals, each volume treating a separate topic and being couched in language suitable for undergraduate students in their beginning biology course. The entire series might be thought of as a textbook of many volumes.
In his third volume of nature verse, the author continues, as previously, to present to the reader the harmonies of the great out-of-doors-the smiles of the earliest spring flowers, the wind playing solos in summer leaves, the color panorama of autumn, the melodies of birds, the murmur of mountain brooks. If only more people could have the opportunity to enjoy these symphonies, there would be much less trouble in the world.
Edited by D. A. Coult, of the University of Liverpool, a new series of paperback monographs was begun in 1966 by Longmans Green and Co., Ltd., and is now being published in the United States by Houghton Mifflin Company. This series like others being presented by other companies, has been stimulated by the impressive growth made by biology in the last twenty-five years and by contemporary advances in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering.
The first volume of a several-volume flora of Illinois has just appeared and is an auspicious beginning for an ambitious project being edited by Robert H. Mohlenbrock of Southern Illinois University. Plans for the work include treatises on algae, fungi, bryophytes, and the various groups of vascular plants.
The newest Golden Nature Guide, published on February 7, covers the algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, liverworts, ferns, cycads, and conifers. The little pocket guide to these poorly understood plants gives specific information on their morphology and distribution, with suggestions on how to study, preserve, and identify them. Hundreds of pictures in full color illustrate the more common, typical, and interesting on these non-flowering plants. There is also an index and a reference bibliography. Both common and scientific names are provided.
Genetics can no longer be regarded as a division of biology. Instead, genetics is diffused through the whole field of biology and may be utilized in attempting the solution of many kinds of biological problems.
This large book is another collection of articles which have appeared in Scientific American and each of them is also available as a separate reprint. For those familiar with that journal no further mention need be made of the style and format.
One of the Biology Studies Series of the Holt, Rinehart, Winston Company, this little book contains a wealth of information for the anatomist, evolutionist and taxonomist.
Dr. Earl L.’ Core (right), Editor of CASTANEA, Professor of Botany, and past Chairman of Biology at West Virginia University, was presented the Gamma Sigma Delta Special Award of Merit to an Alumnus at the Annual Banquet at Lakeview Country Club near Morgantown, April 10, 1967.