186 REVIEWS. [June, 



persons. First, of those who go to India with the view of sur- 

 veying the country and fixing on a locahty for locating them- 

 selves with the intention of devoting their energies either to the 

 culture of the soil or to commerce. Second, it should be well 

 studied by all the employes of Government in India, Avhether they 

 are to be engaged in a civil or a military capacity. Thirdly, all 

 savans who travel in India merely for the promotion of science 

 will find this book one of the most useful guides to the know- 

 ledge of the productions of this the most important dependency 

 of the British Crown. 



In addition to the scientific name and description, accompanied 

 in all cases with a reference to all the botanical authorities on the 

 subject, there is an ample list of Indian or native names, not 

 merely placed after each article in the body of the work, but in 

 an alphabetical list at the end of the volume. A more complete 

 work, as far as it goes, on the useful botanical produce of India, 

 could hardly be devised. We hope its circulation will be equal 

 to its merits. We intend to avail ourselves of its contents at a 

 future period, when our pages are not required for articles con- 

 nected with the botany of regions not so remote as British 

 India. J. A. 



Variability of Form, etc., in Vegetation. On the Natural and 

 Non-Natural Variability of Plants, or on the Relations between 

 their Normal and Abnormal Formations. By Maxwell T. 

 Masters, Lecturer on Botany, St. George's Hospital, etc. 



In this paper, read before the Members of the Royal Institu- 

 tion, the author assumes that there are species, or ideal types, or 

 representatives of groups of organized living existences, and also 

 that the species or types are endowed with a very variable, but 

 limited power of variation. He admits that it is not always easy 

 to distinguish between the class of natural and unnatural varia- 

 bilities. When there is a change in condition, the variation is 

 natural. Notice is taken of the varieties of Primrose, Cowslip, 

 Oxlip, etc., but it is not stated whether these changes belong to 

 the natural or the unnatural category. It is stated that in the 

 Hookerian herbarium there is a specimen in which a Cowslip and 

 a Primrose spring Irom the same stem. 



