4 o2 SOME NE W BOOKS [may 



book coming from one of our great universities. Nevertheless, on this volume 

 Mr. Evans has undoubtedly expended much time and labour, and the informa- 

 tion he must have gained during its compilation will stand him in good stead 

 should a second edition ever be called for, in which case, if he will thoroughly 

 revise the whole and extend the introductory part, he will succeed in making a 

 really useful work. 



The majority of the illustrations are by Mr. Lodge, and some of these are 

 very good. W. P. Pycraft. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



Pflanzen-Geographie auf physiologischer Grundlage. By Dr. A. F. W. 

 Schimper, Professor in Bonn University. 8vo, pp. xviii. + 876, with 

 502 plates and figures and four maps. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1898. 

 Price 27 Marks. 



This charming volume will, we doubt not, prove one of the most useful num- 

 bers of the excellent botanical series which Messrs. Fischer have been issuing 

 during the past few years. It is an able exposition of that phase of the science 

 of plant-life, the study of which, till recently neglected, was brought to the 

 front by the publication of Kerner von Marilaun's " Pflanzenleben." In brief, 

 it is an account of the relation between plants and their environment and an 

 explanation of plant geography in terms of these relations. It also affords a 

 striking example of the value of good illustrations towards the elucidation of 

 scientific facts. Such is the profusion of the plates, most of which are repro- 

 duced from photographs, and so excellent their character, that a student ignorant 

 of German may gain a very fair idea of plant- life under varying conditions of 

 climate or association by merely looking at the pictures. The labour involved 

 in procuring so fine a series of photographs depicting vegetation " in the 

 rough " in all parts of the world must indeed have been great ; but Professor 

 Schimper cannot but feel well satisfied with the result. Those who have seen 

 the book will understand how impossible it is to select individual cases for 

 honourable mention, and those who have not seen the book should embrace the 

 first opportunity of becoming acquainted with its contents. There are rumours 

 of an English translation. Generally speaking, we do not commend translations 

 from the German for our students, but so exceptional a work may well supply 

 an exception. 



The subject-matter falls! into three sections. Part I. enumerates the 

 operating factors — Water, Temperature, Light, Air, Soil, and the Animal World. 

 Each forms the title of a chapter in which is studied the response of plants in 

 form and function to the condition in question. Part II. is called "Formations 

 and Associations." Under the former title are discussed the types of vege- 

 tation brought about by climatic and soil conditions ; under the latter the 

 mutual relationships involved by a climbing, epiphytic, parasitic or saprophytic 

 habit. Part III., occupying more than two-thirds of the whole, treats of 

 Zones and Regions, and describes the plant life of the tropics, the temperate 

 and arctic zones, and alpine and aquatic conditions. 



At the end of each chapter is a list of books and papers dealing with the 

 subject under treatment, and at the close of the volume are four excellent 

 double-page maps illustrating the annual rainfall over the world and its seasonal 

 distribution, and the distribution of the most important botanical formations in 

 the world generally and North America in particular. A. B. R. 



