FEBRUARY 25, 1904] 
NATURE 389 
JAPANESE BOTANY. 
New Lessons in Elementary Botany (Saishin Shoku- 
butsugakk6é Kwasho). By It6 Tokutaré, Rigaku 
Hakushi, D.Sc., F.L.S. 
F this well got up, well illustrated, and lucidly 
() written elementary treatise on botany the 
following translation of the introductory chapter or 
preface will give an adequate general idea. 
It describes the province of botany in a manner 
likely to interest a young Japanese student. 
‘©The surface of the globe we live on is covered 
with a varied and abundant vegetation, differing and 
agreeing in accordance with differences and like- 
nesses of soil and climate. Jn this Japan of ours, 
which is a land within the temperate zone, many and 
beautiful are the flowers of the wild plants that blow 
at the various seasons of the year. In spring we have 
the sakura (wild cherry), the yamabuki (Kerria), the 
tsutsuji (azalea), the fuji (wistaria); in summer the 
Ayame (iris), the kakitsubata (Iris laevigata ?), the yuri 
(lily); in autumn the hagi (Lespedeza), the kikyé 
(Platycodon), the ominameshi (Patrinia); in winter the 
tsubaki (Camellia), sazankwa (mountain tea-flower) 
and the fukujyusé (Adonis amurensis). 
“Among cultivated plants we have the ume (plum), 
momo (peach), Kaidé (Pyrus  spectabilis), botan 
(peony), shakuyaku (Paeonia albiflora), asagaho 
(morning glory), fuyé (Hibiscus mutabilis) and kiku 
(chrysanth). 
““On the hill slopes grow the matsu (Pinus), swgt 
(Cryptomeria), hinoki (Chamecyparis), keyaki (Zel- 
kowa acuminata, yenoki (Celtis sinensis), Kashi 
(oak), shii (QO. cuspidata), and other trees. On the 
wastes and moors we find sumire (Viola Patrinit), 
tampopo (Taraxacum corniculatum), rengesé (Astra- 
galus lotoides), &c., among. spring plants; among 
autumn ones, in addition to those named _ before, 
fujibakama (Eupatorium chinense), suzuki (Eulalia 
japonica), and others, in such abundance as to form 
a many coloured carpet varying according to the 
season spread over the land. 
““In the fields and paddies grow rice, wheat, Indian 
corn, colza and raphanus under cultivation, the scene 
being diversified by scattered clumps of dark green 
bamboo groves. Then in the neighbourhood of 
temples and shrines are camphor laurels and iché trees 
(Gingko biloba)—the camphor laurels are found 
indigenous only in China and Japan, but are cultivated 
elsewhere. The iché is fairly common with us, and 
therefore not considered a curiosity, but abroad (with 
the exception of China) no tree resembling it is found 
—it is unique. 
“Again, in ponds, swamps, lakes, and rivers we 
have kawahone (Nuphar japonicum), jyunsai (Brasenia 
peltata), hishi (Trapa_ bispinosa), ukikusa (Lemna 
minor), &c., and in the sea arame (Ecklonia?), 
wakame (Alaria pinnatifida), kombu (Laminaria 
japonica), asakusanori (a kind of laver), &c. 
“On our high mountains only grow such plants as 
kokemomo (Vaccinium sp.), ihéme (Blyxa_ sp. ?), 
gankoran (Empetrum nigrum), &c., also such plants 
as yashi (Cocos nucifera, but this may be a mistake), 
NO. 1791, \OL. 69] 
hego (sp. of tree fern Cyathea), &c., of Asiatic and 
Malayan character, others of Mexican and American 
affinities, such as saboten (cactus), riuzetsuran (various 
parasitic orchids), &c., even Australian forms, such as 
Acacia and Eucalyptus (but these, of course, intro- 
duced). 
““ Our indigenous species of trees, shrubs and herbs, 
including cryptogams, are very numerous; in addition, 
among botanical forms we must count the innumerable 
microscopic organisms found in a drop of water or in 
mouldy rice. 
““Some 140 years ago scarcely 10,000 species 
phanerogams and cryptogams?) were 
science; now more than 175,000 are known to 
flourish on our globe, and to be thus denizens of the 
province of botany.’’ 
The illustrations are extremely good, and many of 
them apparently original. Among the best are those 
of the hydrangea (ajisat), Vicia faba (soramame), the 
fruit of chestnut (Kuri), section of plum-fruit, wood 
of wild cherry and of shuro (Trachycarpus), the figure 
of a potato plant (jagatara-imo), dissection of iris 
flower, mistletoe on Celtis, &c. There are, in addition, 
two very finely coloured plates, both of gorges among 
the Nikko Hills, one—the frontispiece—showing, in- 
geniously enough, on its guard-fly leaf the outline 
figures with the names of the principal plants in the 
rich mass depicted in the chromo. Unfortunately, of 
the Japanese names given, only one or two can be 
identified in any books at my command. It is worth 
notice how large a proportion of the names of even 
common plants is Chinese. 
Dr. It6 may be congratulated on the production of 
so excellent, indeed charming, an introduction to the 
study of that most fascinating of sciences, botany.? 
F. Victor DIckIns. 
(of 
known to 
OUR UNIQUE EARTH! 
Man’s Place in the Universe. By Alfred R. Wallace, 
LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. Pp. xi+330. (London: 
Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1903.) Price 12s. 6d. 
A BOOK from the pen of so distinguished a man as 
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace would naturally find 
many readers, but the present volume, dealing with a 
subject of such general interest, will undoubtedly be 
widely distributed. 
This work is the outcome of an article which Dr. 
Wallace published some time ago, and the interest it 
excited spurred him on to bring together in book form 
in a more elaborate and detailed manner the argu- 
ments on which the subject-matter was based. 
The reader, therefore, has now before him the whole 
of the evidence upon which the author claims certain 
conclusions, which have ‘‘ enormous probabilities in 
their favour,’’ namely, ‘‘ that no other planet in the 
solar system than our earth is inhabited or habitable,’’ 
“that the probabilities are almost as great against any 
other sun possessing inhabited planets,’’ and ‘‘ that 
the nearly central position of our sun is probably a 
permanent one, and has been specially favourable, 
1 I am notsure of the accuracy of the above given botanical equivalents. 
