118 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



This book is embellished by more than 100 excellent illus- 

 trations scattered through the 278 pages of text. Books 

 of any kind on flower pollination are rare, and this one is 

 especially good. The price is $2.00 net. 



There are two ways of studying nature. We may 

 study the various forms with the primary object of finding 

 out all about them, or we may confine ourselves to a study 

 of such forms only as affect our welfare. The latter phase 

 of the subject, often called civic biology, is nowadays often 

 substituted in the schools for the more scientific and orderly 

 study of nature. Textbooks for use in such studies have 

 been issued with many different points of view, and to the 

 list must now be added a rather superior volume entitled, 

 "Civic Biology," by C. F. Hodge and Jean Dawson. This 

 gives directions for the study of insects, birds, fungi, bac- 

 teria, rats, reptiles, parasites and similar forms that react 

 upon our environment. The book bristles with quotations 

 and questions, the latter designed rather to make the pupil 

 think than to direct him to some answer in the book. In 

 the opinion of the reviewer, many of the questions are 

 rather too difficult even for the child of high school age 

 and presuppose more information than the student is likely 

 to possess. The book, however, has the right viewpoint 

 and the intelligent teacher will know how to select. It is 

 probably inevitable that in covering so wide a field some 

 mistakes will be made, but those that occur are not of im- 

 portance. In some cases the bibliography is not at all rep- 

 resentative. There are more than L50 illustrations. The 

 book is issued by Ginn & Co., and the price is $1.(10. 



