[ 174 ] 



By the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart, M.P., F.R.S., 



D.C.L., LL.D., etc. 



IT is with much pleasure that we give our readers as full a 

 notice of these two most interesting volumes as the limited 

 space at our disposal will allow. We are sure that all bot- 

 anists will agree with the author when he tells us in the opening 

 paragraph of his preface that " the germination of plants is not 

 the least interesting portion of their life-history, but it has not yet 

 attracted the attention it deserves. The forms of cotyledons, and 

 the fact that they differ so much from the subsequent leaves, had, 

 of course, been alluded to more fully in botanical works, but no 

 explanation had been offered, and Klebs, in a recent memoir, 

 expressly states that the problem is still an enigma." 



Fig- 33. — Leaf of Tamus, to show Fig. 34. — Leaf of Sycamore, to show 



the curved course of the veins. the straight course of the veins. 



Speaking of the Forms of Leaves, and of their endless 

 differences, the author tells us " vertical leaves, for instance, are 

 generally long and narrow, horizontal ones have a tendency to- 

 wards width, which brings the centre of gravity nearer to the 

 points of support. Wide leaves, again, are sometimes heart- 

 shaped, sometimes palmate. The former shape is obviously that 



* "A Contribution to our Knowledge of Seedlings," by the Right Hon. 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., iM.P., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., with 684 figures in 

 the text. In two vols., 8vo, pp. viii. — 608 + 646. (London : Kegan Paul, 

 Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., Paternoster House, Charing Cross Road. 

 1892.) Price, 36/- nett. 



