1 84 



HAIDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in eleven volumes, £21 8s., :'n cloth £24. 12s., half- 

 morocco, £28 3-r. 6d., whole morocco, is the greatest 

 work, containing life-size illustrations, beautifully 

 coloured, of every species, with descriptions. It is so 

 costly that few will buy it, but it can be borrowed 

 from any Public Library, and here I cannot do better 

 than advise learners to borrow from a library books 

 they wish to read (not merely keep for reference) one 

 being ashamed to return them unread, whereas if one 

 buys them they are stored up untouched or unfinished. 

 A rather cheaper work is ' ' The Flowering Plants, 

 Grasses and Ferns of Great Britain," by Anne Pratt, 

 with more than 300 coloured plates, medium 8vo., 

 cloth, gilt edges, ^3 13^. 6d., F. b Warne & Co. ; 

 but for beginners the clearest and best work of the 

 kind is the "Handbook of the British Flora," by 

 Geo. Bentham, F.R.S., P.L.S., in two vols., 8vo., 

 together 1062 pages with illustrations (each about 

 2 4 by 1 5 inch) of every species (1295 in all) with 51 

 pages. Outlines of Botany at the beginning and 

 good index, Lovell Reeve & Co., £t, 10s. ; now 

 to be obtained at a reduced price. Those who 

 wish for one book only cannot do better than buy this, 

 recommended by Professors Oliver and Stanley Jevons, 

 and excellent as a work of reference. With a little 

 patience no one can fail to discover the name of a 

 plant by its means. 



The most portable "Flora" is Ffayward's 

 "Botanist's Pocket-Book" containing botanical and 

 common name, soil, situation, growth and seasons, 

 limp cover, 4-r. 6d., no illustrations and very short 

 descriptions ; G. Bell & Sons. 



More strictly scientific than the two last, and much 

 more complete than " Hayward's," is, Hooker's 

 "Student's Flora of the British Islands," crown 

 Svo., 10s. 6d. ; Macmillan. No illustrations. Owing 

 perhaps to prejudice, it does not seem to me so easy 

 to determine species by its aid as by Bentham's. 



Dr. Lindley's " Synopsis of the British Flora," 

 no figures, foolscap 8vo., 6s. ; Longmans. 



Those who delight in numerous species may buy 

 Prof. Babington's "Manual of British Botany," no 

 illustrations, 121110., 10s. 6d., Sixth edition, Van 

 Voorst ; and lovers of the Linncean system, Wither- 

 ing's "British Botany," ioj. 6d., 155 figures, Scott, 

 Webster, & Geary — only, I am afraid, to be had 

 secondhand, as no one thinks of teaching the Linnsean 

 system, although easier and perhaps better for this 

 particular purpose only. 



Works paying special attention to the uses of plants 

 are "Botany," by Prof. Robert Bentley, F.L.S., 

 with 1 138 engravings, 14^., Third edition, J. & A. 

 Churchill, a good manual of Botany in general. Dr. 

 Pereira's " Elements of Materia Medica and Thera- 

 peutics," a very celebrated book, 75J., Longmans. 

 Barton & Castle's " British Flora Medica," 1 vol., 

 Svo., more than 200 figures coloured by hand, 

 revised by J. Jackson, A.L.S., 30^. ; Longmans. 

 41 Popular Economic Botany," by T. C. Archer, 



20 well-coloured and excellent plates, Js. 6d., Rout- 

 ledge ; gives little description of the plants themselves, 

 but can be understood by any one, botanical or not. 



On Botanical Geography cheap works are: " Popular 

 Geography of Plants," edited by Dr. Daubeny, 20 

 plates coloured (but not worth much), "js. 6d. Routledge 

 & Henfrey's " Vegetation of Europe," foolscap, Svo. 

 $s., with map, but no illustrations ; Van Voorst. 



N.B. — Information respecting any really good works 

 of an inexpensive character which have been omitted 

 above is solicited, in order that they may be mentioned 

 in the concluding part of this paper. 

 Tapton Elms, Sheffield. 



( To be continued.) 



MICROSCOPY. 



Cells for Dry Objects.— At a recent meeting 

 of the Manchester Science Association a new method 

 of preparing cells for dry microscopic objects was 

 described and illustrated. A ring of shellac having 

 been traced upon the slide, a piece of paper was 

 placed upon it. Having been allowed to dry, the cell 

 was cut out of the paper by means of the turntable 

 and a sharp knife. . The rings produced by this 

 method are very narrow, but extremely neat ; the 

 writer saw the palate of a mollusc mounted in this 

 way. — Mancestrian. 



Euglena(?)viridis and its Bulbed Flagellum. 

 — It is with pleasure that I supply the information 

 desired by Mr. Robson in last month's Science- 

 Gossip. Every specimen of the Euglena that I have 

 hitherto examined has been furnished with the bulbed 

 flagellum, irrespective of the locality whence it was 

 obtained. Indeed, the fact that Mr. Robson has seen 



Fig. 146. — Euglena, showing 

 gradual metamorphosis. 



them at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and that I find a quan- 

 tity of them in the neighbourhood of Preston, seems 

 to indicate that they are not confined to any special 

 locality ; at least in so far as the bulbed flagellum is 

 concerned. The Euglena;, however, are not to be 

 found in every stagnant pond : I examined, recently, 

 samples of water drawn from four different pools 

 I without discovering a single Euglena. Your corres- 

 ' pondent's theory of the metamorphosis mentioned by 



