384 NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 



were far too much neglected by zoologists ; but at the present day 

 these narrow views ha\e been, to a great xtent, abrogated, although 

 there are still some naturalists who affect to despise the subject. To 

 those, however, who, like ourselves, are of opinion that a full acquain- 

 tance with domestic animals is essential to a right understanding of 

 evolution, the appearance of the present volume will be welcome as 

 showing to what extent our modern dogs are still being modified 

 under the selective care of the breeder. The work — which treats 

 only of the breeds more or less closely connected with sport — is, of 

 course, written for the breeder and sportsman rather than the natu- 

 ralist, but the latter will be able to select the portions of special 

 interest to himself and skip the remainder. 



An especial feature of the book is the excellence of the illus- 

 trations, which are in the form of plates by one of the photo- 

 engraving processes, and are far superior to those in any other 

 English work of similar size. As a rule, no particular dog has had 

 his portrait taken for the group he represents, but a " generalised " 

 dog is in most cases depicted, and in this the author has been 

 decidedly well-advised. 



Mr. Lee's remarks on the scenting power of the bloodhound — 

 in the course of which various old stories are disposed of — will be 

 found of special interest, while as an instance of remarkable modifi- 

 cations produced of late years, the reader may refer to the account 

 of the modern English breed of the dachshund. Following the 

 practice of English shows, the author considers the great Dane as 

 inseparable from the German boarhound ; but if he will turn to the 

 dogs depicted under these names in the third edition of Brehm's 

 " Thierleben," he will find a considerable difference between them ; 

 and this is surely a subject in which the views of foreigners ought to 

 receive a large amount of weight. We are glad to see that the 

 author endorses the view that one of the so-called Irish wolfhounds 

 was a boarhound. 



The work ought long to remain the authority on the subject of 

 British sporting dogs, and we hope that it may ere long be followed 

 by a companion volume from the same pen on the other groups. 



R. L. 



The Food of Plants : An Introduction to Agricultural Chemistry. By A. P. 

 Laurie, M.A., B.Sc. Pott Svo. Pp. ix. and 77. With 15 Illustrations. London- 

 Macmillan & Co., 1893. Price is. 



A NF.AT little primer, " written as an experimental introduction to 

 Agricultural Chemistry for beginners," and embodying a number of 

 simple experiments by which the principles of plant nourishment are 

 put before the student. 



The idea of the book is an excellent one, theory and practice 

 being happily combined, but occasionally tlie author's statements are 

 somewhat crude or even misleading, while a sentence ending with a 

 preposition and the use of "and which " are not to be commended. 



In Chapter I., the relation between the plant and water is well and 

 simply illustrated, l)ut it is wrong to speak of the young root as 

 " covered with little branch roots or Jiaiys," branch roots are one 

 thing and hairs another, and to make the two synonymous is to incul- 

 cate error for some one else to eradicate. Again, we question the 

 wisdom of teaching that the soil holds " the water just as a sponge 

 does"; when one of the points to be impressed on the embryo 



