Book reviews

In their introduction the authors state that moss spores have received little attention in the palynological literature, and that a better knowledge of moss spores would greatly enlarge the number of pollenanalytical results. Mosses give good information on ecological conditions of the age in which the spores fossilized. These are the main reasons for the compilation of the book. After a short chapter on methods and spore morphology and a literature list, the special part contains descriptions and photomicrographs of spores of 1 Anthoceros, 22 Hepatics and 214 Mosses, arranged according to families. The selection of the species has been made “to represent all families and genera of the European moss flora which are of importance on the circumboreal territory, furthermore the authors attached great importance to the fact that the mosses existing on moorland whose relics may be expected mostly in peat and other deposits should be represented, in the highest possible number" (Introduction p. 10). Also mosses producing spores in abundance in other habitats are included. Accepting these arguments as reasonable, one is surprised that a very common and wide-spread moss. Hypnum cupressiforme is not included!