32 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



The Amateur Naturalist, profiting by a good example, has 

 become a quarterly commencing with the January number 

 which begins volume VI. The magazine now contains 24 pages 

 an issue and costs 50 cents a year. In our opinion it is worth 

 the price to anybody interested in the natural sciences. 



Books devoted to "biology" which consist of elementary 

 accounts of botany, zoology and human physiology bound in 

 one volume continue to appear doubtless in response to that 

 phase of teaching which holds that such a mixture is better 

 than separate courses in the sciences mentioned. Among such 

 books the "First Course in Biology" by L. H. Bailey and W. 

 M. Coleman is likely to take a prominent place. It may be 

 doubted whether any course in biology covering but a single 

 year will ever prove satisfactory, but if it should, the present 

 book is likely to be a very desirable one for the purpose. 

 The treatment of both the botany and zoology follows the ac- 

 cepted order, beginning in the former with the seed and in the 

 latter with simple-celled animals. The botanical part, how- 

 ever, follows rather too closely the older books by Gray which 

 have quite passed out of use as text-books for schools except 

 in a few remote localities. In our opinion there is too much 

 emphasis laid upon definitions. Much time is given to the 

 forms of leaves, flowers and other parts that might more profit- 

 ably be given to studies of structure and function. Provision 

 is made, however, to extend the botany for a second half year 

 by the use of additional matter set in small type. The zoologi- 

 cal end of the book also admits of use for a year instead of a 

 healf year by taking up various matters in fine print. This 

 part of the book shows no special advance over others of its 

 kind but seems likely to give the beginner a fair idea of the 

 diversity and relationships of animal forms. The book is 

 well illustrated, containing more than 800 figures. It is pub- 

 lished by the MacMillan Company, New York at $1.25 net. 



