1897. SOME NEW BOOKS. 343 



skilfully-executed coloured plates might at least have been forth- 

 coming. This is not all ; for the figures provided for our perusal are 

 in many cases anatomically inaccurate and poorly executed. It 

 almost appears that the author has a special desire to depict his larval 

 fishes, undergoing all sorts of contortions, illustrating much better the 

 torsional and shrinking abilities of the larval anatomy than the 

 beautiful symmetry of these little beings in their natural surroundings. 

 The many figures borrowed from Holt, Prince, and Raffaele, are better, 

 but scarcely benefit by their new environment. 



The text shows evidence of great labour in the accumulation of 

 facts, but there is a certain looseness of writing in evidence here and 

 there. The author refers repeatedly to the anal fin as the ' ventral,' 

 whilst the true ventrals or pelvics he sometimes designates ' pelvics,' 

 at other times ' throat ' or ' abdominal ' fins. It would have been 

 preferable, as he himself points out, to use the term 'pelvic' throughout, 

 and thus to indicate an homology which might not of necessity be 

 clear to the popular mind. The scientific term 'post-larval' is not 

 referred to, though the post-larval stage is recognised as representing 

 a well marked period of developmental history by other workers, from 

 whose labours the author derives the majority of his facts. The 

 attempt to avoid this term leads to an inextricable confusion between 

 ' transition stage,' ' transformation stage,' ' young of,' ' later larval 



stage,' 'older stage of larva,' 'larva at a very late stage,' and 



so on. 



The labour and energy that Mr. Cunningham has for years 

 thrown into this department, and the excellent work he has done, must 

 be freely acknowledged. But, for this very reason, the book before us 

 cannot be placed to his credit. With an impartial statement of facts, 

 a recognition of the work of others on the part of the author, and with 

 a ' ha'porth of tar ' from the publishers or the Marine Biological 

 Association, in the shape of the employment of a trained artist and 

 the consequent inclusion of a few coloured plates, a work of real 

 value would have resulted. 



A. T. Masterman. 

 Laboratory Botany. 



Das botanische Practicum : Anleitung zum Selbststudium der mikroskopischen 

 Botanik, fiir Anfanger und Geiibtere. Zugleich ein Handbuch der Mikro- 

 skopischen Technik. By Dr. Edward Strasburger. Third revised edition, with 

 221 woodcuts. Pp.740. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1897. Price 20 marks. 



Since its first appearance in 1884 the Practical Botany ("das 

 botanische Practicum ") of Prof. Strasburger, has ranked as beyond 

 question the leading book, in any language, on the study of the 

 structure of plants. It was recognized at once as the work of a 

 master, of one who has probably a greater experience in vegetable 

 histology than any other living man, and who threw all his energies 

 into the preparation of the book, so as to render the fruits of his 

 experience available to others. 



The first edition was an eminently readable book — a quality which 

 one scarcely looks for in a laboratory guide. There was an agreeable 

 freshness about it ; all the illustrations were original, and everything 

 in the book manifestly represented first-hand work. Apart altogether 

 from its practical uses, the " Practicum " formed an interesting intro- 

 duction to the histology of plants, for it covered a wide field, and 

 contained much information not otherwise accessible. If the book, in 

 its original form, had a fault, it lay, perhaps, in a certain want of 

 system in its arrangement. 



