Cryptogamic Botany Algae and Fungi VOLUME I  (English, Paperback, Gilbert M. Smith)

This book is designed for students who have had an introductory course in botany and who wish to make a more intensive study of plants below the level of seed plants. It is written from the standpoint that a thorough knowledge of a representative series in each of the major groups is better than scraps of information about a large number of members of each group. It is hoped that introductory discussions to divisions, classes, and other taxa will help call attention to those characters of the selected representatives which are characteristic of the taxon as a whole and those which are special to the representative itself. An attempt has been made to make the space devoted to each group proportional to its diversity and to check the natural tendency to overemphasize groups in which an author is especially interested. The book also includes phyletic diagrams as a graphic presentation is the best method by which the student may visualize the suggested interrelationships between the various taxa. A large proportion of the figures have also been especially drawn for this book. Overall, the book will be a great help for the students.