April 12, 1917] 



NATURE 



123 



who is responsible for the additional drawings 

 necessary to bring- the book more into line with 

 modern requirements, is well known for his power 

 of depicting the salient features of a plant- 

 subject. The new edition is of a similar 

 handy size and form to the last, but some new 

 features, to which reference is made in the pre- 

 face, have been added with the object of increas- 

 ing- its usefulness. These comprise the reproduc- 

 tion from the "Handbook" of an "Arrangement 

 of Natural Orders," with some of their distin- 

 guishing characteristics, and the addition of a few 

 synonyms and the English name below^ the 

 scientific name -by which each plant is known in 

 the "Handbook." In the matter of arrangement 

 and nomenclature the " Illustrations " must 

 naturally follow the companion " Handbook," 

 which is recognised as the most conservative of 

 the British "Floras." But it is to be regretted 

 that an opportunity has not been found for re- 

 arranging in both " Handbook " and " Illustra- 

 tions " the system of classification so as to bring 

 it more into accordance with modern views. The 

 Conifers still appear as the last family of Dicotyle- 

 dons, and the catkin-bearing families are all 

 grouped under the one family Amentaceae. The 

 English names are still, in many cases, those 

 invented by Bentham — that is, merely translations 

 of the Latin name, and in no sense popular names. 

 There is evidence of want of care in proof- 

 reading in such names as Anacharis Alismastrum, 

 Spiranthes Romazoriana, and Orchis miiscula ; the 

 first is quite a new name, and it will puzzle the 

 editor of a future supplement to the " Kew Index " 

 to know to whom it is to be credited, as the book 

 has no author; the names of Messrs. Fitch and 

 \\'. G. Smith appear alone on the title-page, and 

 the preface is anonymous. 



(2) A new edition of Dr. Jackson's "Glossary 

 of Botanic Terms " is always welcome, if only 

 for the opportunity which it gives a reviewer of 

 expressing on behalf of botanists generally their 

 gratitude for one of the most used and useful 

 works of reference. Apart from the tremendous 

 labour involved in the gathering and arrangement 

 of the material, there is the ever-present difficulty 

 as to what terms are to be included and what 

 omitted. The rise and development of a new 

 branch of the science, such as cecology (which Dr. 

 Jackson, following botanical custom rather than 

 orthography, cross-references to ecology), with 

 its almost startling fecundity in new terms, must 

 be viewed with consternation by the compiler of a 

 glossar\-. Dr. Jackson has steered a safe course 

 between unduly increasing the size of his book 

 and omitting useful references, and there 

 are few terms, apart from those w^hich are self- 

 explanatory, which the botanist will not find in- 

 dexed and explained in the new edition of the 

 "Glossary." Botanists will be surprised to hear 

 of the extent to which their terminologv has grown ; 

 the total numbers included by Dr. Jackson amount 

 to nearly 21,000, though many of these are 

 archaic or have never been generally accepted. 

 Almost any page op>ened at random will reveal 

 NO. 2476, VOL. 99] 



strange or little-known terms, e.g. "drusy," a 

 term used by one author to express the appear- 

 ance of the stigma of Orobanche caryophyllea, 

 while on the same page we notice four variants 

 for the familiar " drip-tip " of a leaf. " Ennobling " 

 is an old term for inarching; and "entrance," the 

 outer aperture of a stoma, seems unnecessary; 

 as also does "equilateral," equal-sided — (wie 

 wonders what other meaning this could have even 

 in botany. 



Botanists can help Dr. Jackson in two ways : 

 by informing him of any presumed omission from 

 his "Glossary-," and by refraining from making 

 new terms except when necessary. There are a 

 useful appendix on signs and abbreviations, 

 another on the use of the terms "right" and 

 "left," and a bibliography, the items in which are 

 arranged chronologically. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, Sikkim. By L. S. S. 

 O'Malley. (Provincial Geographies of India.) 

 Pp. xii + 317- (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1917.) Price 65. net. 



The present volume is a valuable addition to this 

 useful series, already represented by Mr. Thur- 

 ston's account of Madras, and that of the Panjab 

 by Sir J. Douie. Special difficulties prevented the 

 earlier issue of Mr. O'Malley 's volume. While 

 the book was under preparation the re-shuffling 

 of boundary-lines in 191 2 resulted in the 

 obliteration of the artificial partition set up in 

 1905 ; Assam was again made independent, while 

 Eastern and Western Bengal were constituted into 

 a governorship, and Bihar and Orissa became a 

 new province. The general reader, with his 

 attention concentrated on Calcutta and Dacca, 

 thinks of Bengal as a land of rice and jute swamps 

 built up by the action of the rivers Ganges and 

 Brahmaputra, occupied by an effeminate race best 

 known to us in Macaulay's classical description. 

 But all Bengal, as now constituted, is not confined 

 to the Sundarbans and the eastern districts. There 

 are a hilly region on the south-east and the great 

 Himalayan chain to the north, while Bihar, with 

 its stalwart peasantry and its wide tracts of rice, 

 maize, wheat, and barley, presents a startling 

 contrast to the conditions of the Delta. 



Of this varied region, with its physical differ- 

 ences, its many races and castes and religions, its 

 historv, archaeology, social and industrial life, Mr. 

 O'Malley gives a valuable account, illustrated by 

 a fine series of photographs. The book adds new 

 life and interest to the crude facts and statistics 

 embedded in provincial gazetteers, census and 

 administrative reports. The universal craving for 

 litigation, the adaptiveness of the Bengali, the 

 intensity of his religious life shown in the growth 

 of new sects, the Mongoloid strain appearing in 

 the east and combined with that of the Aryan 

 to form the people of Bihar, the old-fashioned 

 religious and social institutions of Orissa — of all 



