1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 59 



which he describes in simple language, and tells where it grows and 

 thrives best, and when we ina}' find it in flower. We learn some- 

 thing too of its history, and what Gerarde, Eay, and many another 

 old botanist (whose name and work is often unknown to the 

 modern student, for whom botany was founded by Sachs) thought 

 about it. The popular names afford scope for a good deal of specula- 

 tion ; in many cases where they originate from the economic or medi- 

 cinal use to which the plant was put in olden times, or bear some re- 

 lation to the shape of the flower or the leaves, the derivation becomes 

 sufficiently obvious. But often the writer walks on very thin ice ; and 

 we are bound to admit that a popular name was vaguely applied to 

 several plants whose appearance for instance coincided with some 

 well-marked recurring event, such as the arrival of the cuckoo in the 

 case of the numerous ' cuckoo flowers.' We might say more about 

 this handy little series of volumes, but we have said enough to re- 

 commend them to those who want an inexpensive, popular and, within 

 limits, useful account of British plants. 



A French Text-book of Botany 



Teaite de Botanique. By L. Courchet, professeur d'liistoire iiaturelle a I'ecole 

 superieuie de pliarmacie de Montpellier. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. viii + 1320, with 514 

 figs. Paris : Bailliere, 1897. Price, 18 francs. 



Peof. Couechet has added one more to the long list of text-books, and 

 has produced a book no worse than many other treatises in botany, and 

 better than some. According to his preface it embodies the course of 

 lessons which, for seven years past, he has put before his students at 

 Montpellier, and which he tells us has been attended with happy 

 results. We hope, for the students' sake, that the course included 

 well-arranged practical work ; as an accompaniment to such the two 

 volumes might be made useful, but taken alone would prove very tedi- 

 ous reading, for the attractiveness supplied by the illustrations, which 

 are fairly numerous, is counterbalanced by repellent-looking tables 

 which make one feel giddy and thankful that examination days are 

 past. The most useful portion of the book is the first part on general 

 botany — an introduction to the morphology and physiology of plants, 

 with a chapter on the principles of classification. The whole of this 

 occupies only 176 pages, and for the size of the book should have been 

 much expanded. The least satisfactory portion is that dealing with 

 physiology. The account of the modification of the various members 

 is also extremely meagre. The second part, 'Special Botany,' is 

 divided into two — (1) Embranchement des Cryptogams, and (2) Em- 

 branchement des Bhanerogams. This demarcation of plants into two 

 groups is not authorised by the present state of our knowledge and 

 should be dropped. The definitions given of the sub-divisions are 

 often inexact, as for instance in the case of Phanerogams (seed-plants 

 would be a preferable term), which are defined as plants on which the 

 highly differentiated sexual organs constitute a flower, and this, in 

 spite of the fact that on p. 81 we are told that comparable associa- 

 tions of reproductive organs, to which it is difficult to refuse the name 

 of fiower, are found in other groups. The account of the Cryptogams 

 occupies pp. 177-363, and all the rest of the book is given up to seed- 

 plants. It is to be regretted that Prof Courchet did not make him- 



