78 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June 



entirely unfounded but very general belief that special scientific 

 training is essential before one may begin the study of plants 

 has deterred many a lover of flowers from attempting to learn 

 the names of species with which he has been familiar from child- 

 hood. 



In recent years, however, several books of a more or less 

 popular character have been published and their effect is already 

 noticeable in the increased interest that is bemg taken in the 

 study of flowers. Mrs. Trail's " Plant Life in Canada" was one 

 of the first, as it is still one of the best, books of this kind 

 published in America. It is, however, more a record of the 

 author's own observations, than an aid to the study of plants 

 and has perhaps for that reason not had so large a sale as its 

 literar}' quality and the information it contains merit. " How 

 to know the Wild Flowers," by Mrs. Dana, and a more recent 

 book by the same author " How to know Ferns " have had a 

 large sale in Ottawa and are doing much to popularize Botany. 



The latest and most attractive book on flowers is Miss 

 Lounsberry's " A Guide to Wild Flowers" illustrated with 

 sixty-four coloured and one hundred black-and-white plates. In 

 Mrs. Dana's book the usual general key to genera gives place 

 to an artificial arrangement by means of which flowers of one 

 colour are grouped together in of their date of blooming ; Miss 

 Lounsberry has adopted a new arrangement and has divided the 

 species included in her book into eight groups according to their 

 habitat. Plants growing in water are first described, then those 

 growing in mud and so on until the uplands are reached. 

 Though some difficulty must have been experienced in deter- 

 mining the group into which some species of general distribution 

 should be put, the author seems, to have been able to place each 

 species just where one would expect to find it and the arrange- 

 ment she has adopted will enable many who know nothing of 

 botany to name the common plants met with in their rambles. 



As should be the case with books of this kind, the common 

 English names are given first in heavy type, then follows the 

 Latin name, below which comes in a single line the family, colour, 



