140 



NATURE 



[October 7, 1915 



BOTANY AND GARDENING BOOKS. 

 (i) Whitby Wild Flowers: A Complete Botanic 

 List of the Flowers, Grasses, and Ferns of the 

 Whitby District (including Levisham and Scar- 

 borough), with Notes on their History and 

 Habitats. By B. Reynolds. Pp. 60. (Whitby : 

 Home and Son, 191 5.) Price is. 



(2) Field Book of American Trees and Shrubs : 

 A Concise Description of the Character and 

 Color of Species Common throughout the 



United States, together with Maps showing 

 their General Distribution. By F. S. Mathews. 

 Pp. xvii + 465. (New York and London : G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons, n.d.) Price 75. 6d. net. 



(3) Experimental Plant Physiology for Beginners. 

 By L. E. Cox. Pp. vii+iii. (London: Long- 

 rrians, Green and Co., 1915.) Price 25. net. 



(4) Elementary Studies in Plant Life. By Prof. 

 F. E. Fritsch and Dr. E. J. Salisbury. Pp. 

 XV +194. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 

 1915.) Price 25. 



(5) Climbing Plants. By W. Watson. Pp. x + 

 132. (London and Edinburgh : T. C. and E. C. 

 Jack, n.d.) 25. 6d. net. 



(6) Plant Life. By C. A. Hall. Pp. xi + 380. 

 (London : A. and C. Black, Ltd., 191 5.) Price 

 205. net. 



(i) ^T^HIS little book gives a useful list of the 

 X. flowering plants of Whitby and its 

 neighbourhood, including notes on the interesting 

 alien forms which there, as elsewhere on our 

 coasts, are endeavouring, often with success, to 

 become naturalised. It aims also at interesting 

 the holiday visitor in the attractive flora of the 

 district, about half of the book being devoted to 

 excursions in search of wild flowers with the 

 author as pleasantly helpful and gossipy as a 

 leader of such excursions should be. The arrange- 

 ment of the book is somewhat loose and rambling, 

 and misprints are somewhat numerous and 

 occasionally a little puzzling, such as "Schler- 

 ochia " for " Sclerochloa. " 



(2) The author has packed into this book on 

 American trees and shrubs an astonishing amount 

 of information, with well-arranged and lucid de- 

 scriptions and a wealth of illustrations both plain 

 and coloured. The appendix contains numerous 

 maps showing the distribution of a large number 

 of species, three or four species being usually 

 shown on each map, together with other useful 

 charts (geological, soil, altitude, etc.). It is much 

 to be wished that a book on similar lines were 

 available dealing with British trees and shrubs, 

 published at an equally moderate price, in such 

 handy form, and with such excellent figures show- 

 ing details necessary for identification of the 

 species. 



NO. 2397, VOL. 96] 



(3) This thoroughly practical little book, though 

 limited in scope and dealing only with part of the 

 subject of plant physiology, is about the best of 

 its kind that we have seen. The directions for 

 experimental work with simple materials and 

 apparatus more than make up In clearness what 

 they lack in novelty, and the beginner who works 

 through the experiments will certainly have no- 

 thing to unlearn on proceeding to a more extended 

 study of plant physiology. It seems a pity that 

 some work on movement in plants, other than 

 tropisms, was not included ; even the beginner for 

 whom the book is intended ought to know from 

 experiment that plants can perform movements 



j of greater agility than those involved in growth 

 responses to such factors as gravity and one-sided 

 illumination. 



(4) This little book is apparently in the main 

 a condensed and simplified version of the same 

 authors' "Elementary Studies in Plant Life," and 

 it presents the same excellent features — clearness 

 of description, abundance of good illustrations, 

 and a just appreciation of the importance of 

 physiology and ecology in the study of the ele- 

 ments of botany. It would not be easy to find 

 a book better suited to the needs of junior 

 students. 



(5) The name of Mr. William Watson on the 

 title-page of a gardening book is a sufficient 

 guarantee of the accuracy of its contents, and 

 this handy volume on climbing plants is a most 

 welcome addition to gardening literature. The 

 claims and possibilities of climbers are admirably 

 dealt with by Mr. W. Robinson in a wise and 

 witty introduction, and the book certainly ought 

 to stimulate interest in the culture of this some- 

 what neglected class of plants. No fewer than 

 one hundred genera, many of them with several 

 species, are dealt with by Mr. Watson in his usual 

 precise and helpful manner; valuable hints are 

 given as to the selection and cultivation of hardy, 

 greenhouse, pergola, tree, and other climbers ; 

 the systematic notes are arranged in alphabetical 

 order under the genera ; and there are twenty-four 

 excellent plates, eight of them coloured. These 

 beautiful and wonderfully cheap " Present-day 

 Gardening " volumes are worthy of a more dur- 

 able kind of binding; few would grudge paying ] 

 a little more if necessary in order to have some- ^ 

 thing more substantial than the cardboard backs, 

 which get badly rubbed and cracked in a short ' 

 time even with careful use. 



(6) The author's attempt at the compilation of 

 a "popular botany" is somewhat more ambitious 

 than usual in the case of such works, and cer- 

 tainly more successful so far as accuracy is con- 

 cerned. We have little doubt that those who can 



