10 The Irish Naturalist. "January, 



REVIEW. 



Elementary Botany. 



Botany : A Junior Book for Schools. By R. H. Yapp, M.A., Mason 

 Professor of Botany in the Universit}^ of Birmingham. 8vo. 

 pp. xii. + 200, 1923. 3s. 6d. net. 



Of elementary books on botany there is no end, but Prof. Yapp's 



contribution to this department of study deserves special commendation. 



He has produced an unusually attractive little Ifook, written v\-hile the 



author was still with us as Professor of Botany in Belfast ; and many 



of the excellent and helpful illustrations (drawn by the author) are no 



doubt derived from specimens collected by the Lagan or on the Black 



Mountain. All the leading phenomena of plant life are dealt with in the 



twenty-eight short chapters into which the book is divided. Some of 



these sections contain material of much practical interest, which is not 



often found in elementary or even in advanced text-books : the two 



chapters entitled " How Plants pass the Winter " are noteworthy in this 



respect, suggesting as they do the important truth that field botany is, 



or should be, an all-the-year-round study, if we are to understand the 



lives and forms of plants. The writing is, like the illustrations, simple, 



clear, and not devoid of imagination, and the plant is treated essentiall}- 



as a plastic and variable living thing, existing in a world of diverse 



influences : a wonderful machine, which, within the narrow limits- of a 



school-book, can only be lightl}" sketched. 



R. Ll. p. 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



October 10.— D. McArdle exhibited fruiting specimens of Poiiia 

 Heimii, a minute tufted, yellowish green moss, distinctly maritime, and 

 presenting curious features in which it differs from other species of the 

 genus found in Ireland. The microscopic preparation showed the apex 

 of the leaf serrated, the reddish nerve, stout seta, ovate-oblong capsule 

 large for the size of the plant, wide mouthed, peristome none, lid obliquely 

 rostrate from a flat base, columella attached to the lid elevating it beyond 

 the mouth of the capsule which is a curious and striking characteristic 

 of this species when in fruit. He also exhibited a drawing of the capsule 

 and a leaf showing their peculiar characters. 



A packet of specimens which were collected on a damp bank near 

 the sea at Sutton, Howth, were also shown. 



December 4. — W. F. Gunn exhibited a slide of spicules of a species 

 of Gorgonia. These spicules are embedded in the soft tissues or sarcode 

 of the animal, and act as supporting structures to fhe body. They are 

 stellate in shape, and tuberculated over the entire surface, and provide 

 an interesting slide, especially when seen by transmitted light with a 

 dark ground central stop. 



