134 



NATURE 



[December i, 1910 



development of the group and on the anatomy of 

 Doris and of ^^olidia ; jvhilst the questions of classi- 

 fication, affinities, and descriptions of species occupy 

 the latter half of the work. On these sections, the 

 author's intimate knowledge of his subject confers a 

 philosophic caution and breadth of treatment. Atten- 

 tion may be directed especially to the discussion of 

 the relations existing between nudibranch and tecti- 

 branch mollusca (pp 89-92), and to the descriptions 

 of fifteen species not described in the monograph. 

 Malacologists are under a great debt to Sir Charles 

 for this fine work, which is worthy of the classic 

 that it supplements. F. W. G. 



WILT> FLOWERS. 



Wild Flowers of the British Isles. Illustrated and 

 written by H. Isabel Adams. Revised by James E. 

 Bagnall. Vol. ii., order xlii., Campanulaceae to 

 order Ixxxvi., Araceae, completing the British Wild 

 Flowers with the exception of Water Plants and 

 Trees. Pp. xi+199. (London: W. Heinemann, 

 1910.) Price 30s. net. 

 ' I "HE talented author of the volume under review 

 '- has made the fatal mistake of attempting to 

 serve two masters, and with the inevitable result. 

 From the artistic point of view the plates are for the 

 most part very good, and they combine accuracy of 

 detail with beauty of arrangement. No doubt they 

 have suffered somewhat in the process of reproduction 

 by the three-colour process, especially as regards the 

 green tints, but the original drawings must be excel- 

 lent. An attempt has been made to produce a British 

 flora of an up-to-date character, based on the last 

 edition (loth) of the- London catalogue, and also to 

 produce an illustrated flora. The work before us is 

 incomplete from both points of view. 



As a flora the omission of trees, referred to on the 

 title-page, is a great mistake, but the complete neglect 

 of Juncaceas, Cyperaceae, Gramineae, and other mono- 

 cotyledonous natural orders, without a word of ex- 

 planation, deprives the book of any real scientific 

 value. "Water plants" are also said to be excepted, 

 as well as trees, but the definition of a water plant 

 adopted by the writer must be individual and peculiar 

 since Hottonia palustris, Nymphoides (Villarsia) pelta- 

 tutn, Lobelia Dortmdnna, and others are not only 

 included but illustrated. It is not easy to suggest any 

 reason for the omission of other natural orders not 

 specifically referred to, such as Elaeagnaceae and Lor- 

 anthaceae. There can be no question that both sea 

 buckthorn and mistletoe are " wild flowers of the 

 British Isles " ; the former might be ruled out of 

 court as a tree, but its claim to inclusion is a strong 

 one when the non-British Lycium chinense forms the 

 subject of a well-executed drawing. The common 

 privet, too, is scarcely a tree. Plantains also, wild 

 flowers par excellence and decorative also, fail to find 

 a place in the volume, and one is tempted to conclude 

 that certain plants do not find favour with the writer. 

 It is not a case apparently of the weakest going to 

 the wall or of suffering minorities, since other natural 

 orders with only one or two genera are to be found 

 in their proper place. 



NO. 2144, VOL. 85] 



The descriptions of the various species are on the 

 whole well drawn up, and some interesting general 

 information is given under each natural order. An 

 attempt is made in some orders to make a slight key 

 to the genera and species, but unfortunately for the 

 unlearned student the keys are not very helpful. In 

 the Labiatae, for instance, the contrasted heads of the 

 key have no logical sequence. They run as follows : — 



Corolla, 2-lipped, and usually 5-lobed. 



Stamens 4, 2 outer longer. 



Stamens 4; calyx-tube with 10-13 ribs. 



Calyx 2-lipped, closed in fruit; stamens included 



in upper corolla-lip. 

 Corolla bell-shaped, with 4 nearly equal lobes ; 



cal3'x with 5 equal teeth. 



There appears to be no reason from such a key why 

 one genus should be placed under one heading rather 

 than under another. 



Enough has been said to show that this book cannot 

 rank as a valuable contribution to the science of 

 botany, and it is all the more to be regretted when 

 the excellence of the drawings is considered. Although 

 in some of the plates there is unnecessary crowding, 

 vet the draughtsmanship throughout is of a high 

 order, and the plates of Convolvulus and Tamils com- 

 munis, to mention two only, are beautiful works of 

 art. A complete series of plant pictures of our British 

 flora by Mrs. Adams would be of considerable value, 

 and it is a matter for regret that so much skill and 

 labour should have been expended on a book so pre- 

 tentious and incomplete, which, with all its accuracy 

 of drawing, unfortunately can only be regarded as a 

 work for the drawing-room table. 



SHALLOW-WATER STARFISHES. 

 Echinoderma of the Indian Museum. By Prof. Ren^ 

 Koehler. Part vi., Asteroidea (ii). An Account of 

 the Shallow-water Asteroidea. Pp. 191 +xx plates. 

 (Calcutta : Printed by order of the Trustees of the 

 Indian Museum.) Price 20 rupees. 



IN this carefully executed and copiously illustrated 

 memoir the starfishes of the Indian littoral are 

 for the first time regimented, from material collected, 

 between the Persian Gulf and the Malay Peninsula, 

 during thirty years of steady work, by the Royal 

 Indian marine survey-ship Investigator, supplemented 

 by local contributions from the recently commissioned 

 Bengal Government Fisheries' steamer. Golden 

 Crown. 



Sixty-seven species are enumerated, of which twenty- 

 eight are described as new. Among the novelties, j 

 though there is nothing very surprising, the species 

 of Astropecten, Anthenea, Goniodiscus, Nardoa, 

 Luidia, and Ophidiaster predominate. 



Of old-established species several that were in- 

 sufficiently characterised by their authors, or that have 

 never been figured, are here re-described with infinite 

 care, or interpreted by wonderfully lucid photographs, 

 according to the requirements of each case, the author 

 having taken the trouble to rivet attention on nothing 

 less authentic than the very "types." This method 

 of work, together with the fact that certain genera — 



