NOTICES OF BOOKS. 189 



indigency. What locality that record refers to I do not know. Miss 

 Foulkes-Jones has sent me a plant gathered hy herself in 1874, on 

 a wall at Gloddaeth, near Llandudno, — seemingly not a likely 

 place for the species to occur as an introduction. — W. Whitwell. 



Chara fragilis Desv., in Denbighshire. — I gathered this species 

 in 1875, from a small pond below a structure then known as 

 " Whalley's Folly," on a moorland height between Trevor and 

 Llangollen. On the appearance of the article by Messrs. Groves in 

 the ' Journal of Botany ' for last March, with its remark that Den- 

 bighshire had no Chara record hitherto, I forwarded the specimens 

 to those gentlemen, and they kindly informed me that the form 

 was one approaching to barbata, — W. Whitwell. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Flowering Plant : as Illustrating the First Principles of Botany. 



By I. B. Ainsworth Davis, B.A. London : Griffin. 8vo, 



pp. x. 181 ; 61 cuts. 

 Mr. Davis has already proved in his ' Introduction to Biology ' 

 that he is a very capable biologist, as fully abreast of modern dis- 

 covery, both in Zoology and Botany, as it is possible for one ordinary 

 man to be in so wide a field of science, and that he is gifted 

 with the power of imparting his knowledge in a clear and concise 

 manner. In judging the value of the present much more elementary 

 work, we have chiefly to consider how far he has succeeded in 

 suiting his book to the precise needs of the class of students for 

 which he intends it. Strangely enough, there is some difficulty in 

 ascertaining who are those for whom the volume is designed. It deals 

 with " first principles," and it is stated in the preface that "no pre- 

 vious knowledge [of Botany, I suppose is meant] , is assumed " on the 

 part of the reader. Candidly I do not think that Mr. Davis's volume 

 is well adapted to those who have no previous knowledge whatever 

 of things relating to Botany. For absolute beginners the best 

 type of book is undoubtedly the famous ' Lessons ' in which Prof. 

 Oliver has adapted the material provided by the late Professor 

 Henslow. The very first sentence of that manual, "Gather, 

 first of all, a specimen of the Common Buttercup," is a perfect 

 example of the way a book should begin which is intended to make 

 a science interesting to those who know nothing about it. And 

 this gradual leading on from the known to the unknown is well 

 maintained by Prof. Oliver. After a dozen pages the pupil is still 

 dealing in a very simple but thorough fashion with his " Common 

 Buttercup," and yet has already become acquainted with some of the 

 leading truths of Botany, without encountering a single long word 

 or a single complicated statement. Mr. Davis' method is entirely 

 different ; without any pretence of choosing a pleasant or easy path 

 he boldly plunges in medias res. 



In the first dozen lines the beginner, who is entirely without 

 knowledge, has to master the terms Morphology, Histology, and 



