January 9, 1896] 



NA TURE 



219 



which are not of insect origin, are Fungi." Agaricus 

 iiiclleus and many species of Polyponis are too well 

 known as parasites, and in the tropics coriaceous leaves 

 of evergreen plants are victims to the attacks of parasitic 

 lichens and alg;u ; lichens are mentioned, as the author 

 holds to his previous view, that these are entirely distinct 

 from fungi, giving a summary of his views on this subject. 



We should look elsewhere in vain for anything 

 approaching the amount of information contained in the 

 section devoted to the geographical distribution of fungi, 

 a chapter which indicates not only what has been done, 

 but also what remains to be done. 



A ■ noteworthy feature of the book is the full biblio- 

 graphy given at the end of each chapter, treating of the 

 special subject dealt with. There is also a glossary 

 explaining the scientific terms adopted. The index 

 might with advantage have been fuller. The numerous 

 illustrations have in most instances done service before, 

 but ne\ ertheless serve to elucidate the text ; and on the 

 whole it may be said that no one aspiring to the study of 

 fungi from the systematic standpoint, can afford to ignore 

 the present work. Geo. Massee, 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Rambles in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun. By 

 H. B. Tristram, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S. With forty- 

 five illustrations by Edward Whymper, from sketches 

 and photographs. (London : The Religious Tract 

 Society, 1895.) 

 Canon Tristram has done well in putting together this 

 record of a visit to Japan, which, although not " recent " 

 when measured by the rapidity of the present march of 

 Japanese history, occurred only a few years ago. The 

 object of the visit was mainly to study the working of 

 Christian missions on the spot ; and this is a welcome 

 fact, because it ensures an audience for what the author 

 has to say, who cannot but profit greatly from the acute 

 observations and calm judgments which he records. 

 While making no pretensions to scientific treatment. 

 Canon Tristram's book is to the average run of tourist 

 twaddle on Japan, as a good novel is to a "penny 

 dreadful." It is truthful, well-written, and inspires con- 

 fidence. Under the guidance of his daughter, who as 

 a missionary had acquired the Japanese language. Dr. 

 Tristram visited some parts of the islands remote from 

 the tourist-track, although all well-known to European 

 residents in Japan. His instincts as a field-naturalist 

 kept him on the alert for all that was to be seen of 

 animal and plant life ; and although we fear the precipi- 

 tancy with which he yielded to temptation in the matter 

 of ivory-carvings and rare china, must have told on his 

 natural history collections, he seems to have brought 

 back a good many plants, insects and birds. 



A great number of interesting facts and phenomena 

 are touched upon. The wonderful results of fancy 

 gardening in Tokyo in dwarfing and grafting, seem to 

 culminate in a maple-tree with seven large branches, the 

 foliage of each having a different tint, varying from 

 copper-colour to greenish-white. The art of the Japanese 

 in domesticating such sensitive birds as robins, titmice 

 and warblers, is cited as an instance of the great sym- 

 pathy for nature which distinguishes the Japanese. Dr. 

 Tristram found that the localities of many of the birds, 

 brought to the seaports for sale, were wrongly described 

 on the labels which were affixed in Europe, and he 

 instances one case in which a species found only in the 

 forests of Nikko, from 3000 to 8cxx) feet above the sea, 

 had its habitat given as Yokohama. The author is in- 



NO. 1367, VOL. 53] 



clined to rank Fujisan second in beauty to the Peak of 

 Teinerife, and he remarks that no Japanese artist would 

 think of painting this much-portrayed mountain from 

 nature, but always from the paintings of the " old masters " 

 of Japanese art. Richly wooded as Japan is, the univer- 

 sality of the use of charcoal as a domestic fuel has 

 necessitated special forest-legislation, based on the strict 

 system of re-planting practised in Germany. Although 

 Dr. Tristram necessarily depended much on second-hand 

 information, he avoids the familiar pitfalls of the un- 

 educated writer, and but for a printer's error in the 

 population of Nagoya, there seems little wanting in the 

 way of accuracy. 



The illustrations add greatly to the interest of the 

 book ; but while all of them are worthy of the name they 

 bear, it is almost with a feeling of shock that one 

 reads "Whymper" on several ordinary half-tone process 

 blocks. 



A Manual of Botany. By Prof. J. Reynolds Green, 

 F.R.S., Sc.D., F.L.S. Vol. I. Morphology and Ana- 

 tomy. Pp. x-f- 398. (London : J. and A. Churchill, 1895.) 



Prof. Green has set himself a difficult task in attempt- 

 ing to put new wine into old bottles. Bentley's book, on 

 which the present work is based, was admirable in its 

 time, but to-day it strikes one as being somewhat in- 

 flexible both in style and ideas. It is true that in the volume 

 before us there is a great deal of very useful information, 

 which is put better and more clearly than elsewhere ; in 

 fact some of the subjects are so well treated, that we 

 cannot help regretting that Prof Green did not see his 

 way to give us an altogether original work. 



We notice, however, with regret, that the morphology 

 of the inflorescence is here somewhat hazy, and it seems a 

 pity that Eichler and Gray were not more closely followed, 

 since their views, especially those advanced by the 

 former, are certainly the most philosophical, as well as 

 the most lucid and comprehensive of any which have as 

 yet been put forward. The treatment accorded to the 

 stele does not strike us very favourably ; the student may 

 be well forgiven if he abandons all attempts to under- 

 stand the complex and apparently irreconcilable ideas 

 embodied in the expressions " monostely " and "polystely " 

 respectively. 



The position of the axis should have been marked in 

 the floral diagrams, as without it, one fails to recognise 

 the correct orientation of the parts of the flower. This 

 need is the more obvious in cases where the actual 

 position of the axis varies in figures on the same page, as 

 in Figs. 248 and 250, in which it falls above and at the 

 side respectively. 



But notwithstanding these faults, the book provides, o» 

 the whole, a clear and comprehensive account of the 

 structure of plants. 



Rope Driving. By John F. Flather, Ph.B., M.M.E. Pp. 



230, and figs. 92. (New York : John Wiley and Sons. 



London : Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1895.) 

 This is a handy little book on the transmission of power 

 by means of rope gearing ; it contains a large amount 

 of sound information on the various arrangements of 

 driving gear, and their design, the best speeds at which 

 ropes should be run, and the tension to which they should 

 be exposed. The reasons of decay and means of pre- 

 servation of ropes are succinctly dealt with ; as also arc 

 the relative advantages of cotton and manilla hemp ropes 

 when worked under different conditions. The book is 

 certainly worthy of a place in any technical library, as 

 the subject is one which is daily engaging increased 

 attention, affecting as it does the efficient driving of mills, 

 factories, and electric installations, and the transmission 

 of motive power to places more or less isolated from its- 

 source. 



