DIE VEGETATION DER ERDE. 371 



classification. This is the fault not so much of Prof. Green as of 

 the traditional system. Because the stodgy old type of Manual (to 

 which Bentley's and Henfrey's belong) contained a condensed 

 account of the characters of the groups and orders of plants, of 

 very little service to anyone, Prof. Green has been at infinite pains 

 to give us such accounts in wliich he exhibits the width of his 

 reading and minute care in his selection of facts. It is good work 

 thrown away for the greater part. Such details are right and 

 proper in a special book on a particular group, but surely out of 

 place in a general manual. From a book like Oliver's Lessons it is 

 but a step to the use of a Flora such as Bentham's, and it is a pity 

 to erect a barrier of such density between them. Prof. Green, we 

 are confident, would never have invented such pemmican as he 

 here offers for bread — it is an outcome of the miserable old tradition 

 that Botany was to be taught in the most repellent way possible. 

 We are sure he would never have invented it, because the physiology 

 is treated in such a different way. By-the-bye, fig. 831 certainly 

 does not represent the haustoria of the potato-disease fungus; and, 

 speaking of figures, we note that many make two or more appear- 

 ances in the course of the work. 



Turning from these complaints to meet Prof. Green on his own 

 particular ground, the physiology of plants, it is difficult to avoid 

 words of praise that will not be called extravagant. There is 

 nothing so good, so simple, and so valuable in every way in our 

 language, and certainly no German could ever find it in his heart 

 to write with such brevity and lucidity on plant physiology. So 

 thoroughly good is it that we recommend the publishers to issue it 

 separately as an Elementary Physiology. Where all deserves this 

 praise, and all is so well sustained, it is difficult to point to any- 

 thing of special merit; but Chapter V., which is introductory to the 

 subject of the food of plants, is a capital example of clear writing 

 and lucid exposition of a subject always difficult for the elementary 

 student. 



Taking the ^lanunl as a whole, it is an excellent investment for 



the university or college student. It is carefully and honestly done 



by a man of almost unique experience in the requirements and 



methods of our teaching establishments, and of excellent judgment 



as to what ought to be taught. 



G. M. 



Die Vef/etation der Erde. Sammlung pflanzengeographischer Mono- 

 graphien, herausgegeben von A. Engler und 0. Drude. 

 I. Grundziige der Pflanzeuverbreitung auf der iberischen 

 Halbinsel von Moritz Willkomm. 8vo, pp. xiv, 395, with 

 21 figures in the text, 2 photogravures, and 2 maps. Leipzig: 

 Engelmann. 1896. Price 12 m. 



If corresponding areas of the earth were treated with the same 

 exhaustiveness as has been the south-west peninsula of Europe by 

 Moritz Willkomm, the series, of which the present is the opening 

 volume, would be an extensive one. Such, however, is not the 

 intention of the editors ; special attention will be given to the plant- 



