BOOK REVIEWS 



Mosses and Lichens. By^ Nina L. Marshall. Pp. 315, illustrated. 

 New York, Doubleday, Page'& Company, 1907. $4.00. 



This book is designed for popular use. However, it is unfortunate that, 

 unlike some of its companion volumes in the same series, it is not valuable 

 for scientific, as well as for popular use. For the scientific purpose the 

 book need not be seriously considered, especially because its author is 

 merely a compiler and not a special student of the difficult groups of plants 

 treated. 



A book designed for popular use should be reviewed from the stand- 

 point of the people for whom it is intended. The full-page illustrations 

 are unusually attractive, and constitute the most valuable part of the 

 book. Two different genera of mosses on colored plates IV and XV 

 bear the same name. The numbering of the colored and the black-and- 

 white plates is very confusing and they are scattered through the book 

 with more attention to spacing than to the subject-matter. This would 

 be less annoying if the plates could be found from the index, which is 

 sometimes impossible (e.g., Climacium, Plates IV and XV.) The index 

 itself is very difficult to use : some mosses are arranged alphabetically in 

 the general index only, as Catherinea ; others appear only under the index 

 heading of mosses, as Ditrichum; and others, like Bryum, are mentioned 

 in two different parts of the index. The lack of any key or of any group 

 characterizations makes it necessary to read every genus until the right 

 one is reached. Any unfortunate royal-path hunter finding a Hypnum 

 would be forced to read from page 109 to page 298 before striking the 

 genus; if the plant were Hypnum triquetrum twelve more pages would be 

 necessary to find its specific name. That any present-day writer should 

 compile a 315-page book on plants without keys to make its contents 

 available is — to put it mildly — somewhat surprising. 



Had Dr. A. C. Grout never published his two books on mosses one 

 could understand Miss Marshall's cry for an "easy path to knowledge." 

 His "Mosses with a Hand-Lens" has the following good points that should 

 recommend it as an "easy path:" clear text, simple keys, distinct and 

 characteristic pictures, convenient form and moderate price. 



Teachers College Jean Broadhurst. 



Columbia University. 



Evolution and Animal Life. By David Starr Jordan and Vernon L. 

 Kellogg. New York: Appleton. 1907. Pp. 489, illustrated. $2.50. 



This new volume is an elementary discussion of the facts, processes,. 

 laws and theories relating to the life and evolution of animals. In short, 

 it is an introduction to most of the interesting and important problems 

 in the philosophical biology of the present day. It ought to be widely 

 used by general readers and especially by teachers and students of biology. 



The Spirit of Nature-Study. Bv Edward F. Bigelow. New York: 

 Barnes. 1907. 



This is a series of readable talks in the style already well known through 

 the author's "How Nature-Study Should be Taught," in many magazine 

 articles, and in the editorial touches given to "Nature and Science for 

 Young Folks, "in St. Nicholas. Most chapters of the book have no particular 

 bearing on school nature-study, except as contact with nature in the great 

 out-of-doors gives inspiration and suggestion which is needed by every 

 teacher in the schoolroom. 



