Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The Araucarieae, recent and extinct' by Albert Charles Seward and Sibille O Ford

Description

Sectional Committee: Botany

The paper is of considerable value as a monograph of an important plant family but its suitability for Philosophical Transactions is open to some doubt. Discusses what he thinks are the most valuable parts of the paper. Seward's opinion on the fossil evidence is of great importance and, although his views of the phylogeny of the group are not, in Scott's opinion, convincing, it is highly desirable that they should be fully stated. Discusses two small errors with references to the relevant pages of the manuscript. The illustrations generally speaking are necessary to the paper and should be published if the paper is accepted for the Transactions. The statements of the authors are, for the most part, based on their own observations which are on the whole confirmatory of those of previous investigations. A general account such as this is a great help to other workers who would certainly wish to see it published, but it is not clear that a monograph of this nature can be said to mark a distinct step in the advancement of natural knowledge. Some new facts are brought forward but they are scarcely of sufficient importance to affect the general character of the paper. Thinks it would be a great misfortune if the paper were not to appear at all. If not appropriate for the Transactions it might appear as a book, subsidised as in other cases, from the funds of the Royal Society, or else it could be transferred to some other Society such as the Linnean. In the meantime the authors might be given the opportunity of publishing in the Proceedings, a statement of their views on the phylogeny of the group as given in the last two sections of the paper.

[Published in Philosophical Transactions A, 1905].

Endorsed on verso as received 4 December 1905.

Reference number

RR/16/381

Earliest possible date

02 December 1905

Physical description

Standardised form (type A) and note on paper

Page extent

3 pages

Format

Manuscript