NOTICES OF BOOKS^ 159 



adduces Viola hirta and odorata as a case in point. Those who have 



studied the genus Viola as a whole, will not be surprised at Mr. 



Baker's conjecture that the two cited may be varieties of one, arid every 



one will appreciate the value of his observations on the gradual change 



of habit in each produced by the soil it grows upon. This is a subject 



which we are glad to perceive Mr. Baker is pursuing further, and we 



cannot conceive a more interesting or suggestive one, or one upon 



which the time and acumen of a good local observer can be better ex- 

 pended. 



With regard to the main question, the preference of species for soils, 

 ■ we doubt if it admits of much greater illustration at the hands of 

 British botanists than Mr. Baker has given ; it requires that the whole 

 trans-Britannic range of each species be known before any single datum 

 can be considered absolute. The chemical nature of the soil has 

 also probably some effect (though very slight indeed), as Planchon's 

 observations, published in the * Bulletin de la Societe Botanique de 

 France,'* would seem to indicate. 



We cannot dismiss Mr. Baker's little Essay without hearty com- 

 mendation for the energy with which he has pursued a very difficult 

 inquii-y, and would add a hint that the subject is somewhat obscured 

 by the use of compound words that are not euphonious. Such terms 

 as Calcareo-eugeogenous and Psammo-dysgeogeuous (invented, we be- 

 lieve, by Thurmann) have the merit of being explicit, but it is always 

 a question whether, when a subject is complicated, it is not better to 

 avoid introducing into it any new terms that arc not both short and 

 sii<nificant. 



E. M. C. : Popular Geography o/* Plants, or a Botanical Excursion 

 round the World, ^Edited by Cuas. Daubeny, M.D., F.E.S., etc.. 

 Professor of Botany and Ilural Economy in the University of Oxford. 

 Royal 16mo, with coloured plates- London, 1855. 



The present volume forms one of Mr. Lovell Ueeve's series of Popular 

 Natural History, which cannot fail to lead the reader on to the less 

 popular, but more philosophical, writers upon this interesting subject. 

 The excellent Dr. Daubeny has kindly taken an interest in the publica- 

 tion, and has prefaced it by a welUwritten essay of tweuty-five pages. 



1 IltrauH, par J. E. Planchou. 



partPint uts da Oard 



