150 NATURAL SCIENCE. Feb., 1893. 



one or two exceptions, it may be added on the shores of Britain. 

 The plates are photographic reproductions of dried and mounted 

 specimens, and are printed in appropriate colours (green, brown, and 

 red). They will certainly be a greater help to the student of sea- 

 weeds, after these have been dried, than to the student of them who 

 begins by trying to name the plants fresh from the pools. This is inevi- 

 table, however, and nearly every botanist has had the experience of 

 being utterly puzzled by a plant in the field or garden which, on 

 being dried, has revealed itself as an old herbarium friend. The 

 text consists of excellent directions for collecting and preparing 

 specimens, and of short and good descriptions of the Algae figured, 

 wath a glossary of the few unavoidable scientific terms used. M. 

 Hariot is a phycologist of distinction, and has brought accuracy and 

 good sense to his task. Though the plates are not things of beauty, 

 they are sufficient for their purpose, and the choice of species figured 

 is good, in the greatest number of cases, for Britain. It will prove 

 useful to beginners in this country who are familiar with French. 



English Botany. Supplement to the Third Edition. Part III. (Orders xxvi. — xl. 



Compiled and illustrated by N. E. Brown. London : George Bell & Sons, 1892. 



Price 5s. 

 Parts I. and II. of this Supplement have already been noticed ; Part 

 III. brings us to the end of Dipsaceas, and includes also the remainder 

 of Rosaceae, Onagraceae, Cucurbitaceae, Crassulaceae, Saxifragaceae, 

 Umbelliferas, Rubiaceae and Valerianaceae. Mr. Brown's connection 

 with the work ceases with the present number, its completion falling to 

 the lot of Mr. Arthur Bennett. With Part III. is published the preface, 

 in which the scope of the work and the rules adopted in nomenclature 

 are explained ; no authorities for genera are accepted that date farther 

 back than the year 1735, when Linnaeus published the first edition of 

 his " Systema Naturae." Authorities for species do not date farther 

 back than 1753, when Linnaeus established the binomial system in the 

 first edition of his "Species Plantarum." " It seems an act of gross 

 folly," says the writer, " to apply the binomial system — as has been 

 attempted in America — to dates before that system was in existence," 

 and we heartily agree with him. 



We also commend the expression of his view on the hybrid- 

 making epidemic. No less than seven and twenty names follow the 

 genus Epilobium ; they are headed " Hybrids ?" and "are supposed 

 to be natural hybrids, and are considered as being intermediate in 

 character between their supposed parents." The differences, how- 

 ever, " between the supposed hybrid and the species it most resem- 

 bles being no greater and sometimes not as great as may often be 

 found between individuals in a bed of seedlings from one plant." Mr. 

 Brown sees no use in inserting in our floras descriptions of such 

 plants. Coloured plates are given of Pyrus rotundifolia var. decipiens, 

 P. intermedia, P. pinnatifida, P. scmi-pinnata, P. cordata, and Silenuvi 

 ciivvi folia. 



Messrs. William Wesley & Son have issued a list of the tran- 

 sactions of Scientific Societies, Periodicals, and Serials, including a 

 nearly complete enumeration of the various scientific journals that 

 have at different times been pul)lished in Britain. It is interesting 

 to note how few of those devoted to popular exposition have survived 

 for more than two or three years. 



