THE FLORA OF THE ALPS. 825 



most interesting question, wliich cannot, however, be discussed 

 here." It is impossible to do justice to this most important work 

 in a brief notice. The vahie of researches such as this can hardly 

 be over-estimated; it is by means of this class of work that we may 

 confideutly hope to derive the greatest possible assistance in phylo- 

 genetic inquiries. 



Mr. Brebner's drawings deserve the highest praise ; they are 

 models of what illustrations should be, at once scientifically accurate 

 and artistically executed. 



A. C. Seward. 



Tke Flora of the Alps: beiiuf a description of all the Species of Flower- 

 in;/ Plants indiijenous to Switzerland ; and of the Alpine Species 

 of the adjacent Mountain Districts of France, Italy, and Austria, 

 including the Pyrenees. By Alfred W. Bennett, M.A., B.Sc, 

 F.L.S. London: Nimmo. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. xxii, 165, 223. 

 120 coloured plates. Price 30s. net. 



If excellent paper, clear type, and attractive binding were all 

 that is necessary to make a good book, Messrs. Nimmo would have 

 produced an admirable Flora of the Alps. Unfortunately these 

 are but externals — the mine, anise, and cummin, so to speak ; and 

 the attention bestowed upon them cannot atone for the neglect of 

 the weightier matters which characterizes this expensive work. 



The " 120 plates," which should form a useful and important 

 feature in a book of this kind, are for the most part, though this 

 is nowhere stated, reproductions of the very unsatisfactory figures 

 in Mr. D. Wooster's Alpine Plants, published in 1874 ; and we 

 cannot help suspecting that the acquiring of these by the publishers 

 formed the raison d'etre of the present work. Some of them are 

 bad beyond belief — for example, Soldanella alpina, Gentiana lutea, 

 Paradisia, Astrantia, and Viola bijiora — the last absolutely comic 

 in its badness ; some can only have been introduced because the 

 blocks were ready to hand, e.g., a plate lettered Uelianthemum 

 roscum (a hideous presentment of a "rose-coloured" form of the 

 common Rock-rose) and an extraordinary, if not impossible, 

 monstrosity of the Fritillary, which can hardly be considered 

 an alpine flower. Both in colouring and drawing, these figures 

 may take rank among the worst examples of colour-printino- ; 

 they were bad enough when first produced, but their reissue at 

 the present time is inexcusable, in the face of the great advance 

 which has been made in this style of reproduction. 



It might have been hoped that the letterpress would to some 

 extent compensate for the badness of the illustrations : this again 

 is far from satisfactory. The botanical tourist will save time, 

 space, and money, and gain immeasurably in efficiency, by the 

 purchase of Mr. Paitson's translation of Gremli's admirable 

 Kxcursionsflora far die Schweiz, noticed in this Journal for 1889, 

 p. 315 ; the ordinary traveller will effect all these economies and 

 lose nothing in helpfulness if he (or she) obtains M. Correvon's 

 Flore Coloriee de Poche (see Journ. Bot. 1895, 95). The tourist does 



