1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 131 
the necessary reagents, and so to secure preparations killed in an 
absolutely fresh condition. For study of the spicules he used a one 
per cent. osmic solution diluted with an equal volume of sea-water. 
After five or ten minutes in this, the specimens were rinsed in water 
and placed in picrocarmine, in which they were allowed to remain for 
one or two hours, and were then transferred to glycerine or to alcohol, 
according as surface-views or sections were required. For spicules he 
found this method more useful than nuclear stains, as these, from their 
acidity, corroded the crystals. Certainly the exactness of the results 
gained, as shown in the description and Mr Minchin’s exquisitely 
beautiful drawings, is proof of the excellence of the method. 
After exact description of the spicules and their mode of formation 
in a series of types, the author passes to a general review of the nature 
and condition of the spicule systems. He lays considerable stress on 
the presence of the spicule sheath between the spicules and their 
secreting cells, and cannot follow the view that spicules are formed in 
protoplasmic nodes, and owe part of their structure to resulting ten- 
sions. He regards the sheath as the remnant of a vacuole secreted by 
the cell, in the interior of which the spicule itself appeared as a 
concretion. The primordial form of spicule he takes to be a simple 
monaxon: the triradiate type he regards as being formed of three 
monaxons fused at a point. Probably the original monaxons were 
arranged as the sides of hexagon figures surrounding the pores. It 
has been objected to a composite origin of the triradiate spicules, that 
these behave optically as single crystals; yet Mr Minchin shows that 
in actual ontogeny they arise from the very early fusion of these. The 
quadriradiate crystals he supports Haeckel in supposing to be derived 
from triradiate forms by the addition of a gastral ray. 
In the case of a memoir like this, which depends in every way 
upon the exposition of elaborate details, it is impossible to do justice 
in a short notice. We can only commend it to our readers as a strik- 
ing and elaborate piece of work, and to the University of Oxford as a 
singular result of the activity of that supposed rudimentary organ— 
the endowment of research by fellowships. 
THE Lire Stupy oF BUCHANAN WHITE 
Tur Frora or Perrusuire. By Francis Buchanan W. White, M.D. Edited, with 
life of Author, by James W. H. Traill. 8vo, pp. Ix+408, portrait and_ map. 
Edinburgh : Printed for the Perthshire Society of Natural Science by W. Black- 
wood & Sons. 1898. Price, 7s. 6d. 
TuIs handsome and well-printed volume has a melancholy interest to 
all lovers of British Botany. Dr Buchanan White died in 1894. 
How much Perthshire Botany owes to his continued labours in the 
cause of science can only be gathered from the study of this volume. 
He founded the lecal Society. He had a large share in raising the 
Perth Museum to its present position of supremacy amongst those in 
county towns. The catalogue of his printed works in this volume 
contains about 227 headings. Moreover although the editor has been 
obliged to obtain the assistance of others in some of the larger more 
critical genera such as Hieraciwm (and curiously enough Salva), 
which were not written up by Dr White, still the work is to all 
intents and purposes his work, and its details and accuracy are exactly 
what one would have expected from him. 
