ANATOMIA VEGETALE. FISIOLOGIA VEGETALE. 207 



gested which are open to criticism ; but theories after all are only 

 temporary conveniences for arranging and correlating facts, and 

 within limits we may sacrifice much to convenience. We would 

 suggest, however, that the beginning of a book is a more convenient 

 place for a table of contents than the end, and that to publish a 

 work of this kind without an index should be made a criminal 

 offence. The general get-up of the work is useful rather than 

 artistic. The cover is strong but not beautiful, the quality of the 

 paper is moderate, but the type is clear, and the figures, though 

 poor, help to elucidate the author's meaning. The cover and title- 

 page are punched like a tram-car ticket, but this may be only to 

 render the review copy unsaleable. 



The book comprises an introduction and four parts. The intro- 

 duction is short, and deals almost entirely with Goethe's view on 

 the variation of plants. The four parts are more interesting ; they 

 include twenty-three chapters, and contain a very fair account of 

 the influence of heat, light, gravity, and an aquatic medium as 

 factors of environment in plant-life. For instance, the first part 

 opens with a brief account of the distribution of heat on the surface 

 of the globe, and a contrast of arctic and tropical floras, followed by 

 an attempt to explain the difference. It is shown by examples how 

 the duration of life of a plant varies in different climates, why 

 annuals are unsuited to the brief vegetative season of an arctic zone, 

 how a damp tropical climate may favour a woody habit as a result 

 of an uninterrupted growth-season, and so on. The relation between 

 light and colour in the zonal distribution of seaweeds is explained in 

 the part devoted to light, and chapters are given to its influence on 

 movement and growth, and on the position, form, and structure of 

 plant organs. The characteristics of marsh-plants, amphibious, 

 swimming, and submerged plants are headings for the fourth part, 

 which ends with an unnecessary chapter on the notions of variation 

 of living organisms among the ancients, in which, among other 

 things, the figure of Venus is evolved from a cuttle-fish. The book 

 as a whole will give an intelligent person with a very slight know- 

 ledge of botany a very fair idea of plant physiology. ART? 



Anatomia vegetale. Del Filippo Tognini. Small 8vo, pp. xv, 274, 

 figs. 141. Price lire 3. — Fisiologia vegetale. Del Luigi Monte- 

 martini. Small 8vo, pp. xv, 230. Price lire 1.50. Milan : 

 Hoepli. 1898. 



These handy little books form numbers 246-247 and 265 

 respectively of the Manuali Hoepli, an Italian Scientific Series. 

 The matter is well arranged, and seems very fairly up-to-date, and 

 the text is clear. The most striking feature is, however, the great 

 wealth of illustrations ; the figures, which are far above the average 

 for the style of book, have been freely borrowed from Sachs, De Bary, 

 and other well-known text-books. Others are less familiar, and several 

 are new. An additional advantage from the student's point of view is 

 the small size of the volumes, which renders them eminently suitable 

 for surreptitious use in the examination-room. A R R 



