BOTANICAL BOOKS AND THEIR USE 123 



work is Bates's " Naturalist on the Amazons," and 

 another is Belt's " Naturalist in Nicaragua," while for 

 great interest as a book of travel combined with philo- 

 sophical observations upon natural history, Forbes's 

 " Wanderings of a Naturalist in the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago ' ' must rank very high. To these I would add 

 two books by Hudson, "The Naturalist in La Plata" 

 and " Idle Days in Patagonia," which works in my 

 opinion are quite unmatched for their combination of 

 intense interest, clear scientific description, and fine 

 literary form. Most of these books deal, it is true, 

 much more with animals than with plants ; but they will 

 not lack interest for the botanist on that account. If 

 one would read a very entertaining and instructive book 

 in German, he should take Haberlandt's " Eine botan- 

 ische Tropenreise," a book of travels in the tropics by 

 a botanist, a work commended to young botanists 

 studying German. And all young botanists should 

 study German, for they cannot go far in scientific study 

 without a knowledge of it. 



A class of books very influential for good, and as yet 

 far too few in number, are collections of essays upon 

 important botanical topics, written authoritatively and 

 attractively. Such works are useful both to teacher and 

 students, and to general non-scientific readers as well, 

 and they may attract to the science many who would 

 not think of approaching it through its more scientific 

 phases. Such a book, warmly to be commended for its 



