NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 253 



OpJiioglossum vulgatwn, L., /3 amhiguum, G. & G. " Pasture at 

 the west end of the Calf of Flotta, Orkney, August 2, 1878. 

 Discovered on the above date by Mr. Wm. A. Irvine Fortescue. I 

 have seen two specimens of this plant from near the Black Crag, 

 Stromness, where Miss Patricia Deuchar first found it in 1877. 

 These two stations and Dr. Boswell's one at Veness, and that at 

 Swanbister, in Orphir, are all at the seashore." — H. Halceo 

 Johnston, December 31, 1878. 



The Botanical Text-Book. Sixth Edition. Part I. Structural Botany, 

 or Orf/anography on the basis of Morphology ; to which is- added 

 the ininciples of Taxononiy and Phytography, and a Glossary 

 of Botanical Terms. By Asa Gray, LL.D., &c. 1879. (Ivison 

 and Co., New York.) 

 This iS rather a long title, but it quite accurately gives the 

 scoj)e and contents of the volume. Those who are familiar with 

 the last previous edition of the American ' Text-Book ' — and its 

 excellence made it widely known and much used in England — will 

 see that Prof.^^Gray has much restricted the range of subjects in 

 his new volume. The date of that edition is 1866, and during the 

 long interval the^relative importance of the various departments of 

 Botany has greatly altered. Then it was thought necessary 

 merely to give a brief outline of histological and physiological 

 structures and processes ; the Cryptogamia were still more 

 imperfectly treated; and the whole book extended but to 556 pages. 

 Now all these subjects are entirely omitted, as well as the short 

 sketches of the Natural Orders, which occupied 140 pages of the old 

 edition; and the volume (x^p. 442) is strictly devoted to the 

 morphological anatomy of Phanerogams, with sections on the 

 principles regulating then- classification, description, and nomen- 

 clature. It was, indeed, the masterly and philosophical treatment 

 of these sections of the science which always gave to the Text- 

 Book its special value ; they have been particularly the branches 

 to which the author's long and laborious life has been devoted, 

 and it is with great satisfaction- that botanists will receive this 

 fuller treatment of them at his hands. _ 



The whole has-been entirely re -written, and it is scarcely 

 necessary to say, well written. Dr. Gray is able to convey strictly 

 technical instruction in the attractive and easy style only reached 

 by a few masters. Much has been added, especially under the 

 sections of Phyllotaxy and Anthotaxy, the structure of the flower, 

 and the adaptations in flowers for insect-fertilization. Keferences 

 to other authors are also greatly increased, and a wide acquaintance 

 with researches, ancient and niodern, is evidenced everywhere, 

 the results being stated in the briefest and simplest manner. 

 Indeed, students of this branch of botany will never find them- 

 selves XDUzzled and mystified by the presentation of conflicting views 

 and contradictions so often found in text-books. 



The only fault to be found is the quite unnecessary number of 

 foot-notes, which interfere seriously with consecutive reading on 

 nearly every page. Foot-notes are necessary evils, aud they 



