84

l ar l y t o t he def i ci enci es of symposi um pub-

l i cat i ons. Thi s has been done under t he aus-
pices of t he I nt er nat i onal Uni on of Geol ogi -
cal Sciences and of Edi t er r a, t he Eur opean
Associ at i on of Eart h Sci ence Edi t or s. The
book is wr i t t en f or sci ent i st s of all ki nds and
covers f i el ds whi ch t he edi t or can t ur n a
bl i nd eye t o i f he is not t oo cr eat i ve a per -
son, but i t is ver y cl ear t hat t he book has its
r oot s in Edi t er r a.
A. Mar t i nsson, Uppsal a
ANGI OS P E RMS
N. F. Hughes, 1976. Paleobiology of Angi o-
sperm Origins. Uni ver si t y of Cambr i dge
Press, 292 pp. , 73 t e x t f i gures, 8 tabl es, ~
7. 80.
The st at ed obj ect i ve of thi s book is t o
" pr esent in a new l i ght t he ol d pr obl em of
t he evol ut i onar y or i gi n of t he angi osperms,
and par t i cul ar l y t o suggest t hat in spi t e of
t he di f f i cul t i es f r equent l y r epor t ed a sol u-
t i on is ent i r el y possi bl e. " The pr obl em per-
sists, in t he vi ew of t he aut hor , because o f
t he cont i nui ng bot ani cal emphasi s on
f l o we r st r uct ur es in angi osperm cl assi fi ca-
t i on - - t h e ver y organs t hat are l east com-
monl y preserved as fossi l s. The aut hor not es
t hat a sol ut i on may mor e l i kel y come f r o m
a great er emphasi s on t hose st r uct ur es t hat
are most c o mmo n l y f ossi l i zed ( pal yno-
mor phs, l i gneous ti ssue, preservabl e f r uc t i f i -
cat i ons, f ol i age) , combi ned wi t h such geol ogi c
f act or s as preci se dat i ng and cor r el at i on,
st r at i gr aphi c successions, deposi t i onal envi -
r onment s, and past posi t i ons of cont i nent s
and i nf er r ed pal eol at i t udes.
The book is or gani zed i nt o a t e x t of si x
" par t s " , a gl ossary of sel ected t er ms, a large
l i st of sel ected ref erences, and an i ndex.
Part 1, " Techni cal s i t uat i on" , composed of
t hr ee chapt er s, cont ai ns br i ef not at i ons on
some of t he i mpor t ant f act or s of bi ol ogy,
pal eobot any and Ear t h evol ut i on, wi t h a
mor e ext ensi ve di scussi on on a " n e e d " and
a pl an f or est abl i shi ng a new ar t i f i ci al sys-
t em f or dat a- handl i ng of f o s s i l s - - a syst em
di st i nct f r om t he cur r ent bi ol ogi cal cl assi fi -
cat i on of l i vi ng pl ant s. Par t 2, " Cr et aceous
Eart h hi s t or y " , composed of t hr ee chapt ers,
is concer ned wi t h Cret aceous f l or as, l and
f uanas and st r at i gr aphy. A cent r al t heme
here is t he aut hor ' s rel i ance on one of t he
many publ i shed model s of cont i nent al d r i f t
and i nf er r ed pal eol at i t udes, whi ch he pre-
sents wi t h o u t compar at i ve eval uat i ons of
al t er nat i ves. The chapt er on st r at i gr aphy
emphasi zes t he aut hor ' s concer n wi t h t he
f act or of t i me in pal eont ol ogy. Part 3, " Cr i t -
ical fossi l evi dence" , composed of f our
chapt ers, deals wi t h sel ected Jurassic
( Mai nl y Yor kshi r e) and Cret aceous fossi l s.
Part 4, " Concl usi ons f r o m evi dence" , a sin-
gle chapt er , emphasi zes t he aut hor ' s con-
vi ct i on t hat t he answer t o t he angi osper m
pr obl em ul t i mat el y wi l l come f r om t he f os-
sil r ecor d. To assist in t he sol ut i on of t he
pr obl em, he proposes a syst emat i c reorgani -
zat i on of fossil pl ant s based on preserved
mor phol ogi c charact ers, t he devel opment of
a mor phol ogi c dat a- f i l i ng syst em, and a
dat a- handl i ng code t o f aci l i t at e c omput er
pr ogr ammi ng. Part 5, " Ot h e r t heor i es" ,
composed of t hr ee shor t chapt er s, concerns
pre-Cret aceous angi osperm cl ai ms; a ques-
t i oni ng of t he val i di t y of angi osperm phy-
l ogeni es when based on t he compar at i ve
mor phol ogy of l i vi ng pl ant s; and br i ef dis-
cussi ons of some pr evai l i ng t heor i es wi t h
concl usi ons as t o why t he aut hor bel i eves
t hey have all f ai l ed. Part 6, " Consequences" ,
composed of t wo shor t chapt ers, t er mi nat es
t he book wi t h a br i ef di scussi on on t he
pl anni ng of a phyl ogenet i c cl assi f i cat i on of
angi osperms based mai nl y on t hose char-
acters t hat can be f ound in bot h l i vi ng and
fossi l pl ant s; a suggesti on t hat t he t axo-
nomi c t r eat ment of fossil pl ant s shoul d var y
in accor dance wi t h t he age of t he fossi l s;
and a l i st of subj ect areas wher e f ut ur e
st udy l i kel y wi l l be most chal l engi ng and
f r ui t f ul .
Consi deri ng t he di ver si t y o f bi ol ogi c and
geol ogi c f act or s t hat may have a beari ng on
t he pr obl em of angi osper m ori gi ns, such a
r el at i vel y smal l book cannot discuss f ul l y all
of t he many per t i nent issues i nvol ved.
I nadequat e space, f or exampl e, is given t o
compar at i ve eval uat i ons of ot her concept s
t hat may be consi dered as reasonabl e al t er -
nati ves t o t hose present ed. Assumpt i ons
may be present ed as posi t i ve st at ement s
unembel l i shed by any c o mme n t or expl ana-
t i on. Possi bl y i mpor t ant avenues of i nvest i -
gat i on or i nqui r y whi ch t he aut hor bel i eves
t o be " u n p r o f i t a b l e " may be summar i l y
di smi ssed f r om consi der at i on.
Thi s r evi ewer , as wel l as ot her readers,
can f i nd numer ous poi nt s o f agr eement and
di sagreement . Such is t he c ompl ex nat ur e of
t he pr obl em, wi t h its di ver si t y of al t erna-
ti ves t hat are avai l abl e f or personal selec-
t i v i t y and i nt er pr et at i on. The angi osperm
pr obl em pr obabl y remai ns d i f f i c u l t t o sol ve
by k nown fossil evi dence because of t he
mor phol ogi cal , t empor al and geographi c
gaps t hat must pr esent l y be br i dged con-
cept ual l y. Cer t ai nl y t he pl aci ng of great er
emphasi s on st r at i gr aphy and ot her geol ogi c
f act or s is essential f or t he doc ument at i on of
bi ol ogi cal changes t hr ough t i me. As t he
aut hor suggests, t he search f or new fossi l
evi dence, when pl aced in i ts pr oper geol ogi c
set t i ng, l i kel y wi l l be mor e c o n t r i b u t o r y t o
an ul t i mat e sol ut i on of t he pr obl em t han a
cont i nual l abor at or y r eeval uat i on of known
mat er i al . But thi s r evi ewer quest i ons t he
appl i cabi l i t y of t he aut hor ' s pr oposed t em-
por o- mor phol ogi c segment at i on as a new
ar t i f i ci al cl assi f i cat i on f or fossi l pl ant s. Can
t he or i gi n and subsequent evol ut i on of angi -
osperms be resol ved by t he ar bi t r ar y expe-
di ent of r edef i ni ng and r enami ng t he
sequent i al segments of t hei r evol ut i onar y
hi st or y? Woul d benef i t s o f t he ar t i f i ci al sys-
t em of f set t he negati ve resul ts of reduced
c ommuni c at i on bet ween t a x o n o mi c bot a-
nists and pal eobot ani st s?
Thi s book is a t i mel y i nqui r y i nt o a ver y
d i f f i c u l t and st i l l cont r over si al subj ect . Its
mai n t i t l e is somewhat ambi guous in t hat i t
seems t o i mpl y a sol ut i on t o t he pr obl em,
but t he t heme is wel l -expressed in t he sub-
t i t l e " Pr obl ems of Mesozoi c seed-pl ant evo-
l u t i o n " . Thi s is a book t hat shoul d be read
by all who are i nt er est ed in t he pr obl em of
angi osperm ori gi ns, under st andi ng t hat i ts
pr i mar y pur pose is t o suggest new
approaches t o t he sol ut i on r at her t han bei ng
a proposal of t he sol ut i on i t sel f .
C.J. Smi l ey, Moscow, I daho
M A T H E M A T I C A L M O D E L L I N G
C. A. Br ebbi a ( Edi t or ) , 1976. Mathematical
Models for Environmental Problems. Pen-
t ech Press, London, 1976, 537 pp. , ~ 12. 50.
85
The reader shoul d not be mi sl ead by t he
t i t l e whi ch suggests a t e x t b o o k on envi r on-
ment al model l i ng or a manual of model s.
The book cont ai ns t he Proceedi ngs of t he
I nt er nat i onal Conf er ence hel d at t he Uni ver -
si t y of Sout hampt on, Engl and, in Sept em-
ber 1975: a series of 30 papers by exper t s
f r o m 14 count r i es on t he appl i cat i ons of
mat hemat i cal model l i ng t o pr obl ems of
i nt er act i on bet ween engi neeri ng and envi -
r onment in such f i el ds as hydr aul i cs
i ncl udi ng sewage and f l ood cont r ol
systems -- wat er and ai r pol l ut i on, energy
and wat er resources and regi onal pl anni ng.
As wi t h t he Conf er ence, t he book is
mul t i di sci pl i nar y but c ont i nui t y is mai n-
t ai ned by f ocusi ng at t ent i on on t he com-
mon char act er i st i cs r unni ng t hr ough t he
whol e model l i ng spect r um: a syst em anal -
ysis appr oach, a mat hemat i cal f or mul at i on
of t he pr obl em addressed, an ext ensi ve use
of moder n numer i cal t echni ques and com-
put er f aci l i t i es.
Al t hough model s may range f r o m t he
st at i st i cal ex pl oi t at i on of dat a t o t he det er -
mi ni st i c mat hemat i cal f or mul at i on of t he
syst em' s evol ut i on and may deal wi t h as di f -
f er ent aspects of t he mat hemat i cs as non-
l i near par t i al di f f er ent i al equat i ons and alge-
brai c-equat i ons-based opt i mal cont r ol , t he
book by Dr. Brebbi a succeeds in demon-
st r at i ng t hat t he subj acent c ommon phi l o-
sophy is now suf f i ci ent l y br oadl y i mpl e-
ment ed t o cont empl at e t he size of a new
sci ence: appl i ed mat hemat i cal model l i ng.
The new sci ence wi l l need its t ex t book s
and manual s but prof essors and st udent s
wi l l f i nd t hat books l i ke Mathematical
Models for Environmental Problems are
equal l y pr eci ous pr ovi di ng wel l present ed
and document ed mat er i al f or appl i cat i ons
and case studi es i nt r oduci ng t he reader t o
t he i ndi spensabl e i nt er di sci pl i nar y at t i t ude
of mi nd.
J.C.J. Ni houl , Liege
T HE UNS E T T L E D E A RT H
R. Jones ( Edi t or ) , 1976. The Unsettled
Earth. Ann Ar b o r Sci ence/ Wi l ey, Chi ches-
t er , 112 pp., 3. 80.
Thi s is an odd l i t t l e book. In its 112
pages i t cont ai ns essays on new energy sour-