278 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



and " posionous " (for poisonous) (p. 538) are all that have attracted 

 our attention. 



It should perhaps be noted that the volume, although dated 

 1915, was not put on sale until the end of March of this year ; the 

 preface is dated September, 1913, and the text is hardly brought 

 up even to that date, as the "additions and corrections" relate 

 especially to the years 1911 and 1912. This should be borne in 

 mind, as otherwise the compiler may be blamed for additions to 

 our knowledge made since his book went to press. 



Plants in Health and Disease. By F. E. Weiss, A. D. Imms, and 

 W. EoBiNsoN. Longmans, Green & Co. 1916. Pp. 143. 

 Price Is. Qd. net. 

 Fungoid and Insect Pests. By F. E. Petherbridge. Cambridge 

 University Press. 1916. Pp. 174. Price 4s. net. 

 The first of these books is "an abstract of a course of lectures 

 delivered in the University of Manchester during the session 

 1915-16." The course was undertaken with a view to giving some 

 assistance to those who were endeavouring, to the best of their 

 ability, during the present crisis, to increase the productiveness of 

 their gardens or allotments. One has heard rumours of the 

 enormous success of the course ; in any case the audience was so 

 large that it was found advisable to issue to each member an eight- 

 page summary of the lectures, and these summaries, seventeen in 

 number, make up the present small volume. The first seven, by 

 Professor Weiss, one of the most successful lecturers on popular 

 botany, dealt with the life history of flowering plants and the 

 effect of the special conditions met with in the Manchester district. 

 This is the sane way of approaching pathological questions and is 

 followed out in most of our Universities ; but, unfortunately, 

 although most graduates are as a rule quite capable of discussing 

 the chemical constitution of chlorophyll and other somewhat 

 intricate questions, they are frequently unable to identify the 

 common fungus pests which are ably discussed by W. Eobinson 

 in the following five lectures of the series. The remaining lectures 

 on insect pests make interesting reading and are doubtless of the 

 same quality as regards accuracy as the others. The book is the 

 best that could be placed in the hands of anyone who washes an 

 introduction to the combatting of the difficulties encountered by 

 the practical man. It is to be regretted that the matter could not 

 be extended, with a reproduction of the more essential of the 

 diagrams shown at the lectures. 



The first thing that strikes one about Mr. Petherbridge's book 

 is its price, which will doubtless cripple the sale of what might 

 otherwise be a successful book. After an introductory chapter 

 devoted to the life histories of fungi various common forms are 

 treated in the following six chapters. The accounts of these are 

 accurate and the remedial methods suggested are those which are 

 accepted as being the most effective. The remaining six chapters 

 deal with the life cycles of different types of insect pests after a 

 general introduction to insects. Methods of combatting the 



