SEPT. 19, 1921 POPULAR BOOKS IN SCIENCE 357 



LoTSY, J. p. Evolution by means of hybridization. 166 pp. (M. Nijhoff, 

 The Hague, 1916.) A brief and stimulating essay on the origin and trans- 

 formations of living beings. 



On the more purely descriptive side of the biological sciences there 

 exists a wide variety of books. It is convenient to roughly divide 

 the field into "zoology" and "botany," and the following readable 

 books in each of these two subjects can be recommended : 



In zoology : 



Buckley, A. B. Life and her children. 312 pp. (Appleton and Co., 

 New York, 1881.) 



Buckley, A. B. The winners in life's race. 367 pp. (Appleton and Co., 

 New York, 1883.) 



These two books are elementary but fascinating, forming a delightful 

 introduction to the study of invertebrate and vertebrate zoology, respectively. 



In botany : 



Ganong, W. F. The living plant: a description and interpretation of its 

 functions and structure. American Nature Series. 478 pp. (Henry Holt 

 and Co., New York, 1913.) A thoughtful and suggestive book by a leading 

 American plant physiologist. Written in the form of an essay rather than 

 the usual college text-book and designed to appeal to those interested in know- 

 ing how living things "work," rather than to professional botanists. Well 

 illustrated. 



OsTERHOUT, W. J. V. Experiments with plants. 492 pp. (The Mac- 

 millan Co., New York, 1905.) An introduction to plant physiology with 

 descriptions of many ingenious experiments requiring only simple home-made 

 apparatus. The author is one of the leading plant physiologists of the United 

 States. The reader should take note, however, that much progress has been 

 made in this branch since 1905. 



SoRAUER, Paul. A popular treatise on the physiology of plants for the 

 use of gardeners or for students of horticulture and agriculture. Translation 

 by F. E. Weiss. (Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1895.) This well- 

 written and comparatively brief but highly authoritative work presents 

 a ver>^ satisfactory treatment of the structure and nutrition of plants. It 

 might be entitled "the plant at work." As the subtitle indicates, the prac- 

 tical application of the principles set forth is constantly in view. 



Lubbock, John (Lord Avebury). Flowers, fruits and leaves. Nature 

 Series. (Macmillan Co., New York, 1908.) A readable and suggestive 

 little book by the well-known statesman and botanist. 



A special field of botany is that devoted to the distribution of plants 



over the earth's surface- — ecology : 



Hardy, Marcel E. The geography of plants. 339 pp. (Clarendon 

 Press, Oxford, 1920.) A short readable account of the distribution of vege- 

 tation over the surface of the Earth. It is concerned largely with dis- 

 tribution, and only to a slight extent with the relations of plants to their en- 

 vironment. 



There are many books dealing in an interesting way with restricted 

 groups of living organisms. Some describe the life of a given lo- 

 cality; some tell about the members of a certain family, wherever 

 they may be found. It is much easier to make a list of good manuals 



