114 The hish NaUiralist. May, 



jiidiciousl}' skip Question 5 of the Examihatiou Paper of 1903 ! A book 

 of this kind is bound to be more or less dogmatic in its character rather 

 than suggestive or stimulating, and in his facts the author is, on the 

 whole, concise and up to date, though here and there a questionable 

 statement is made. On p. 126, for instance, it is erroneously stated that 

 the cells of the palisade parenchyma of a leaf are without tntcnelhdar 

 spaces, a mistake which is also introduced into the diagram on the fol- 

 lowing page. The explanation of the presence of annual rings in wood 

 as being caused by transverse pressure is quite inadequate, and it is not 

 strictl}' correct in speaking of the root nodules of the Legumiuoscc to say 

 that the " bacterium " or fungus is always present in the soil. 



The author can scarcely be blamed for the syllabus he feels himself 

 called upon to write up to ; and since the first and only obligatory ques- 

 tion in each of the examination papers given at the end of the book is 

 concerned with plant description, we must give him credit for sparing no 

 pains in providing the unfortunate student throughout the book with a 

 dose of technical terms which will probably serve him a lifetime. Thus 

 we find such a simple thing as " leaf- fall " is preferably tobe known as 

 " phylloptosis," and when we read as the final sentence, "Fruit: a 

 pseudocarp consisting of an aetario of aclienes borne on a succulent 

 thalamus" we close the book with a shudder. Strawberries without the 

 cream, indeed ! 



"Test-tubing" has been successfully chased from the chemical labora- 

 torie.s of our schools; when will some strong man arise and stamp out 

 the equally soul -destroying description of -'specimens" in technical 

 terms from our botanical classes, and so make unnecessary the writing of 

 large parts of such books as the one under review? 



Geo. H. Pethybridge. 



NEWS GLEANINGS. 



New Royal Irish Academicians. 



At the Annual Meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, held on March 16, 

 the following were elected members : — William Frederick Baile)', B.A. 

 (Dub.), EvStates Commissioner, Dublin ; Rev. Kdward Alfred D'Alton, 

 C.C., Belcarra, Co. Mayo; Prof. Andrew Francis Dixon, M.B., Sc.D., 

 (Dub.), Trinity College, Dublin ; John Fraser, M.A. (Dub.), Fellow of 

 Trinity College, Dublin ; William Alexander Goligher, M.A. (Dub.), 

 Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin ; Very Rev. James Joseph Kelly, D.D., 

 Dean of Klphin, Athlone ; Thomas Philip Lefanu, B.A. (Cantab.), Bray ; 

 Prof Kuno Meyer, Ph.D., Lecturer in Celtic, Iviverpool University ; 

 Prof William M-Fadden Orr, M.A., Royal College of Science, Dublin. 



At the same meeting the following names were added to the Council : — 

 W. P:. Adeney, D.Sc. ; Prof K. J. M'Weeney, M.D. ; Prof Gregg 

 Wilson, D.Sc; Sir T. H. Grattan Ksmonde, M.P. ; I^dward Gwynu, 

 M.A. ; and T. J. We.stropp. 



