February 7, 1S95J 



NA TURE 



.39 



A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 

 Lehrbiich tier Botanil:. By Drs. E. Strasburger, F. Xoll, 

 H. Schenck, and A. F. W. Sthimper. (Jena ; Fischer, 

 1894.) 



THIS book is intended for the use of students in the 

 German Hochschulen : throughout it is written in 

 a manner whicli is at once interesting and exact. Ac- 

 cording to the usual plan adopted in text-books of the 

 kind, it is divided into two parts - the first dealing with 

 general botany, and the second with special botany. In 

 a general introduction a short rrsuini' is given of the 

 theories of descent and of natural selection, with a view 

 to their bearing on the subject of the natural boundary 

 between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 



The first division of the first part is devoted to the 

 general morphology of plants. It is written by Prof 

 Strasburger. This whole subject he treats from a phylo- 

 genetic point of view, and so renders, what is in many 

 botanies little more than a list of difficult names and 

 their explanations, extremely interesting and suggestive 

 reading. A good example of this will be found in his 

 account (p. 26) of the leafy stipules of Lathyrus apliaca. 

 In this connection it may be noticed that having once 

 described the more important forms, he does not enlarge 

 on the very various shapes and modifications assumed by 

 leaves, stems, &c., as is often done in text-books, where 

 the writers often appear to glory in the number of curious 

 terms they collect descriptive of the forms of the 

 members of plants — terms which, if it is necesrary for 

 the student to learn, might be more easily mastered if 

 printed as a kind of botanical vocabulary or glossary, 

 instead of rendering such an attractive subject as vege- 

 table morphology a monotonous exercise of the memory. 

 In the portion devoted to anatomy and histology we find 

 the structure of the cell and its contents extremely lucidly 

 described. The digression on p. 45, with regard to some \ 

 of the properties of protoplasm and the eft'ect of high | 

 temperatures and of reagents upon it, might have, j 

 perhaps, come more appropriately in the part of the 

 book allotted to physiology. In the account of the 

 systems of tissues in vascular plants, and their morpho- 

 logy, we are furnished with the results of recent work in 

 this direction, of which so much is due to the author's 

 own researches. With regard to the origin of these 

 tissues, he disputes the theory according to which the 

 meristematic apex of the stems and roots of phanero- 

 gamic plants is difterentiated into three distinct initial 

 layers. He urges that the arrangement of the cells in 

 these regions is rather due to mechanical causes, and 

 that the terms Dermatogen, Plerome, and Periblem 

 should be used simply to facilitate the description of 

 certain cell-layers in the vegetative cone, without in- 

 volving the idea of the presence of distinct Histogens, as 

 they have been called. Throughout this whole portion 

 on general morphology, we feel that the space has 

 been too limited, and we wish that the author had not 

 restricted himself to the 126 pages allotted, but had 

 allowed himself to enter more fully on the numerous 

 points of interest in this subject which he, perhaps 

 beyond all others, is capable of discussing. 



The same remark may also apply to Dr. Noll's part 

 on physiology. It is throughout too much abbreviated. 

 NO, 1319, VOL. 51] 



Apart from this defect, which is involved in the nature of 

 the book, it is very .attractively written, and by its 

 logical arrangement and clear descriptions does much to 

 atone for the necessary crowding of facts. The chapter 

 on the phenomena of movement in plants strikes us as 

 suffering the least from the condensed nature of the 

 writing, and seems to be a good account of both earlier 

 and recent researches on the subject. 



The special botany is the work of Dr. .Schenck and 

 Prof. Schimper. The classification adopted is that pro- 

 posed by Braun, and elaborated by Eichler and others. 

 Little need be said of this portion, except that much 

 trouble appears to have been taken to make the descrip- 

 tions, so far as possible, include the results of modern 

 work. At the end of the book there is a list of medicinal 

 and of poisonous plants, as well as a very complete index. 

 It is to be regretted that the authors have not given some 

 references to the literature of the subjects of which they 

 treat, so that the student might be helped to pursue more 

 fully his studies in the directions he desired. The book 

 is throughout profusely illustrated by means of extremely 

 good figures, many of which are tastefully coloured. The 

 figures are, to a large extent, new, and those which are 

 not specially designed for the book are well selected, in 

 part, from Prof. Strasburger's other works and, in part, 

 from sources which are not commonly familiar to English 

 readers, so that in this way the value of the book is 

 enhanced. With regard to the coloured figures, they 

 have this novelty — that they are inserted in the text, and 

 are not in the form of separate plates. H. H. D. 



A^ NEW POPULAR BOOK ON BRITISH 

 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.. 



Butterflies and Moths {Brilisli). By W. Furneaux, 

 F.R.G.S., author of " The Outdoor World, or Young 

 Collector's Handbook." With twelve coloured plates, 

 and numerous illustrations in the text. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1S94.) 



THE success of Mr. Furneaux's " Out-door World" 

 was sufficiently marked to induce the publishers to 

 make it the first of a series of popular illustrated works 

 on British Natural History,tobe called "The Out-door 

 World Library." Of this series, the volume before us 

 forms the second ; and we observe that others are pro- 

 jected, on British Birds, Mammals and Reptiles, Pond- 

 Life, &c. 



This is pre-eminently a beginner's book, written in a 

 popular style throughout, and it has also been nicely 

 printed and illustrated, so as to make it as attractive- 

 looking as possible. Hence the practical part of the 

 subject is dealt with at length, while questions of a purely 

 academic nature, such as synonymy, are wisely omitted 

 almost entirely. English names are given the most 

 prominent place ; but the scientific names used in Soulh's 

 List are added in brackets. 



The book is divided into four parts : Structure and 

 Life-history of the Lepidoptera ; Work at home and 

 in the field ; British Butterflies ; and Common British 

 Moths. The appendices include a list of British Macro- 

 Lepidoptera according to South's " Synonymic List," as 

 far as the end of the Gcomctrida (the English names 

 here being in brackets), and a Lepidopterist's Calendar. 



