February 22, 1894] 



NA TURE 



385 



Wollaston," with one plate, enumerating eleven butterflies 

 and fifty- six moths. The Micro-lepidoptera, r^oX. here in- 

 cluded, and which have partially been worked out by 

 Messrs. Wollaston and Stainton, were reserved for a 

 future paper. In addition to Picris IVollastoni, already 

 -mentioned, the remarkable form jnaderensis of Gonep- 

 teryx clcopatra (intermediate between the type and the 

 Canarian G. cleobule), and the dark forms of Satyrus 

 scmele and Polymtnahis phlceas are remarkable ; but 

 much more so is the occurrence of a Deilcphila appar- 

 ently identical with the Indian D. lai/iyrus. 



Previousto Mrs. HoltWhite's book, the principal sources 

 of our information regarding the Canaries were Webb and 

 Berthelot's " Histoire Naturelle des lies Canariennes," in 

 which twenty butterflies and thirty-three moths were enu- 

 merated, and a paper by Alpheraky in the fifth volume of 

 Romanoff's " Memoires sur les Lepidopteres," noticing 

 iifty-seven species, of which seventeen were butterflies, 

 several of which are figured. We may mention that the 

 white form of Danais chrysippus, found in Teneriffe, 

 more resembles the Indian var. nlcippoides than the com- 

 mon African var. alcippus. An interesting species figured 

 by Mrs. Holt White is Euchloc charlonia, a species 

 previously known from North Africa and Western Asia 

 (not North and West Africa) ; and among the moths we 

 TiOtice a figuic oiRhypertotdes rttfescens, described, but not 

 figured, by Brulle, in Webb and Berthelot's work, and 

 several other species peculiar to the islands. Mrs. Holt 

 White describes twenty-nine butterflies and thirty-five 

 moths, and adds a list of twenty-seven others, chiefly 

 Micro-lepidoptera, which she considered too small or 

 obscure to be included in a popular work. However, if 

 a new edition of her useful little book should be required, 

 we hope she will complete it at least as regards the 

 Macro-lepidoptera, and that she may also be induced to 

 ■extend it to include the Macro-lepidoptera of Madeira. 



We may add that Dr. H. Rebel has lately published a 

 paper on the Micro- Lepidoptera of the Canaries, in 

 which sixty-three species are enumerated {Annalend.k k. 

 Naturliist. Hofmuseunis, vii. ; Vienna, 1893), with one 

 plate. 



The last list of the Lepidoptera of St. Helena was pub- 

 lished by Mrs. T. Vernon Wollaston in Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist.., ser. v. vol. iii. (1879). A large proportion of 

 the species are endemic ; the others are chiefly wide- 

 ranging African species, several of which are common 

 to the Northern Atlantic Islands, and even to Europe. 



W. F. KiRBY. 



THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLES OF PLANTS. 



Dictionary of the Active Principles of Platits. By C. E. 



Sohn. (London : Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1894.) 



PROBABLY no section of organic chemistry has been 

 more prolific of results, or has added more to the 

 literature of recent years, than that which has dealt with 

 the vegetable kingdom. So many investigators have been 

 occupied with the so-called active principles of plants, 

 that the task of keeping up acquaintance with current 

 researches is a very laborious one, and there is little 

 ■cause for surprise if much work in this field is in danger 

 of being overlooked or undervalued. On this account 

 the publication of a work which undertakes to gather 

 NO. 1269, VOL. 49] 



together so many scattered papers, and to summarise in 

 a convenient form their most important matter, is likely 

 to be hailed with gratitude by many workers both in 

 organic chemistry and in vegetable physiology. The 

 author has wisely limited himself to some definite sections 

 of the work, and the present volume deals especially with 

 the alkaloids, the glucosides, and the bitter principles. 

 In dealing with the literature of these, he has first set 

 forth the members of these groups which have been 

 chemically examined, taking them in the order of the 

 botanical name of the plant which yields them. In the 

 case of each he gives an account of its botanical source, 

 the workers who have investigated it, and the chief 

 chemical and physical peculiarities it presents. Where, 

 as in so many cases, one plant yields more than one of 

 such principles, all that have been prepared from it are 

 described successively. A summary of the more striking 

 features of each, put in tabular form to admit of ready 

 reference and comparison, forms the second part of the 

 work, while a rearrangement of them, grouped according 

 to their behaviour with various chemical reagents, con- 

 stitutes Part iii. An idea of the completeness and care 

 with which the book has been compiled may be obtained 

 from the fact that nearly 600 of these vegetable bodies 

 have been described, while the references to contem- 

 porary literature embrace the work of the first half 

 of 1893. 



The author deals with the various bodies described 

 chiefly, if not entirely, from the point of view of the 

 chemist or the analyst. The therapeutical action of the 

 drugs is but slightly touched upon, though the chief 

 physiological actions of each have been briefly stated 

 in many cases. Their importance to the plants in which 

 they occur is apparently beyond the limits that the author 

 has set himself. • 



As a work of reference the new dictionary will be much 

 appreciated. It would have been more convenient for 

 use if each page in Part i. had been headed by the name 

 of the plant which is being treated. This has been 

 done in Part ii., where it seems scarcely so necessary. 



It is hardly to be expected in a work of this character 

 that the proofs should pass without some slight in- 

 accuracy. A list of errata would no doubt rectify the 

 statement that the name of the darnel grass is Loliani 

 teltimentum, as stated on p. 62, 



The botanist will regret that the author did not include 

 in the scope of the work the vegetable enzymes or fer- 

 ments which play such an important part in vegetable 

 physiology. They are not very numerous, and would 

 well have repaid inclusion. The only exception made is 

 Papain, to which a few lines on p. 76 are allotted. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Forschungsberichte atis der Biologischen Station ztc Plan. 



By Dr. O. Zacharias. Theil 2, pp. i 152. Two plates 



and a map. (Berlin : R. Friedlander and Sohn, 



1894.) 



The second annual report from this station contains 



the additions made during last year to a knowledge of the 



fauna, flora, and physical conditions of the Ploner See, 



prefaced by a geological and hydrographical paper by 



Dr. Ule. Lists of the Diatoms are furnished by Count 



Castracane and Prof. Brun. A case of " the breaking of 



the meres," caused by great swarms of Rivularia {Gloio 



