2 
the various mechanisms for furthering nutrition, growth, and reproduction, 
and the manner in which each discharges its particular function. 
That plants, like animals, are possessed of instinct and endowed with 
sensation; that in fact no marked boundary-line exists between the world 
of plants and the world of animals, are curious truths, of which the fewest 
of us were aware, but which are here made plain. The reader will indeed 
find matter of novel and entrancing interest on every page. He will 
read of rootless plants free to move from place to place, of plants whose 
roots hang suspended in mid-air, of strange carnivorous plants that 
capture their prey in traps and pitfalls of cunning device, of parasitic 
plants that live and are nourished, some on fellow-plants, others on 
animals. He will find described, not merely our own familiar vegetation, 
but the whole world’s flora, in its relation to the Science of Biology. 
While, therefore, all lovers of nature will find THe Naturat History 
or PLAnTs an inexhaustible treasure-house, to the specialist and serious 
student of Botany the variety and freshness of its facts and the beauty 
and fidelity of its illustrations render it a necessary possession. Very 
many of the facts recorded are the result of the author’s long-continued 
observation, and are here made accessible for the first time. 
The English translation has been carried out by Professor F. W. 
Oliver, University College, London, assisted by Marian Busk, B.Sc., 
and Mary F. Ewart, B.Sc. It possesses the great merit of maintaining 
at once the simplicity and readableness, and the scientific accuracy and 
precision of the original. 
The pictorial illustrations, executed under the author's own supervision, 
form a very notable feature. They consist of about 1000 engravings on 
wood, and 16 plates in colours. The woodcuts have, with a few excep- 
tions, been specially drawn and engraved for the work, and are remark- 
able for beauty, as well as for truth to nature. The coloured plates, also 
original, while imparting brightness to the pages, are not merely decorative, 
but are of much scientific value as exhibiting the plants in their natural 
surroundings. Indeed, they form in themselves a contribution to Botany 
of no mean order. 
While the book has been written in the main in untechnical language, 
it has nevertheless been thought well to append a glossary to it, in which 
such technical terms as could not be dispensed with will be explained. 
The Work will be printed with the utmost care on fine quality paper, and issued in sixteen 
monthly parts, imperial 8vo, price 2s. 6d. each, nett; also in six half-volumes, handsomely bound 
in cloth, price 95. each, nett. 
This edition will be sold exclusively by Subscription, through authorized Agents, and no 
order will be accepted unless for the complete work. 
BLACKIE & SON, LimireD; LONDON, GLASGOW, AND DUBLIN. 
