THE EXGLISlt KUCK-GAKDEX 357 



as Gerard and Parkinson. Mr. Farrer thoroughly recognises the 

 principle of priority in nomenclature: "this book has aimed at 

 getting back to the genuine original specific name for every species, 

 so that these may never again appear disguised as novelties in the 

 same list that also contains their more common superseded name " : 

 " in the pursuit of final correctness over specific names," he tells us, 

 " I have spared no trouble to myself and no inconvenience to orup.set 

 to my readers." How far he has succeeded it is not easy to judge, 

 as he seldom adds the authorities to the names, but in the cases in 

 which these are given his conclusions, so far as we have tested them, 

 are correct, though we do not know why Hyijericum rliodoi^etim 

 (1836) is accepted in preference to H. origan if olium (1822). 



The book on the whole is carefully printed, though there are 

 occasional slips — e. g. " arrow roots " for ^agittaria (ii. 226) ; " poor 

 man's pepper " can hardly be correctly applied to Sanguisorha offi- 

 cinalis (ii. 229) ; Cimicifuga was not so called because it "put^e^s 

 to tiight" (i. 22-j). There are appendixes containing additional notes 

 aw Meconopsis and Primula^ of no obvious utility, as most of the 

 latter are comparatively unknown — of P. Waltonii, for example, 

 which " cries aloud to be collected from its home on the high gaunt 

 hills of Holy Lhasa," only two sheets of dried specimens have been 

 seen .... and a "lleport of Year's Work (1914) in Kansu and Tibet," 

 which seems out of place in a book on *' The English Eock Garden " 

 and has been printed in the Journal of tlie Moyal Horticultural 

 Society. 



Readers are cautioned that the uncut edges are at the bottom of 

 the pages instead of at the top— an inconvenient practice for which 

 it is difficult to see the reason and which may lead to tearing the 

 pages if these be turned over rapidly. 



Meiidelism. By R. C. Punj^ett, F.R.S. Fifth Edition. Macmillan 

 & Co. London, 1919. Price 7s. Qd. net. 



When this book first appeared in 1905 the present reviewer 

 welcomed it as a thoroughly satisfactory account of what was then 

 almost a new subject. It was then a little volume which would 

 almost have fitted into the waistcoat pocket ; though still of no 

 very great size, it has now expanded into a larger volume, and has 

 come to a fifth edition ; it has been translated into German, Swedish, 

 Russian, Japanese, and has been published in an American edition. 

 Jt is unnecessary to pour out fresh praises on a book with such a 

 record : it is enough to say that it continues to be by far the best 

 manual on a subject which is as interesting to biologists as it was 

 when the first edition appeared. The new matter which has been 

 published, even during the War, is dealt with in this edition ; special 

 mention ma}'' be made of Morgan's work with the account of his very 

 remarkable observations on I)rosofliila, the fruit fly. But jDcrhaps 

 the most interesting point relates to the discovery that the numerous 

 h3"brid forms of Hieracium normally produce seed by a curious 

 process of parthenogenesis. It will doubtless be remembered that 

 Mendel himself made a number of experiments on this genus because 



