June 5, 191, 



NATURE 



345 



this series; practically all the colours are as true 

 to life as present processes of reproduction can 

 make them, and one can scarcely select any for 

 special praise, though the pictures of butterbur, 

 dwarf thistle, corncockle, and teasel are perhaps 

 among the most pleasing-. The line-drawings in 

 the text are still rather too diagrammatic and 

 poorly executed, as in previous volumes. On the 

 other hand, the descriptions show great improve- 

 ment, the author having incorporated in his 

 accounts the results of quite recent observations 

 on the biology of both flowers and vegetative 

 organs— as an instance of the latter we may men- 

 tion his account of recent experiments on the 

 biological significance of the water-pitchers of the 

 teasel. 



(3) Here the same indefatigable illustrator con- 

 tributes twenty coloured plates to what is probably 

 the first volume of a companion series of picture- 

 books on garden flowers. It is not easy to see 

 for what class of reader a book of this kind is 

 intended, though the text is pleasingly written, 

 and the pictures nice to look through — one is 

 tempted to suggest that this sort of book is simply 

 meant to be laid on the parlour table for the delec- 

 tation of the waiting visitor, as a change from the 

 old-fashioned album or book of views. The 

 practical gardener has surely no use for books 

 like this, and the text is not such as to be of much 

 service to the amateur grower. Still, there seems 

 to be a brisk demand for any and every sort of 

 book on botany or gardening that is illustrated in 

 colour and attractively got up in a " suitable-for- 

 presentation " style, and we may leave it at that. 

 (4) This is another book which scarcely appears 

 to fill a distinct gap in the copious literature of 

 gardening. The author is enthusiastic and prac- 

 tical, but the botanical portions of the book 

 (chapters iii. and iv.) are rather badly in need of 

 revision, and some of the illustrations are poor 

 woodcuts which contrast strangely with the many 

 excellent photographs ; some of "these cuts (e.g. 

 those on pp. 48, 162, 170, 171, 174, 226, and 241) 

 would be well-nigh unrecognisable if not labelled. 

 Since this book is published at a low price, and 

 may come into sufficient demand to make a second 

 edition necessary, it is to be hoped that it will be 

 subjected to considerable revision ; apart from the 

 unsatisfactory blocks just referred to, at least 

 half of the illustrations given are neither necessary 

 nor helpful as aids to the comprehension of the 

 letterpress, and might well be omitted, or replaced 

 by more useful pictures. It is only just to add 

 that, apart from the more botanical portions, the 

 text is thoroughly practical and clear, and the book- 

 would form a very useful guide to the amateur 

 NO. 2275, VOL. 91] 



gardener, as well as to the school-teacher, for 

 whom it is more particularly intended. 



One thing that certainly ought to be omitted 

 from a new edition is the preface, the writer of 

 which appears entirely to have overlooked the 

 danger of advising the turning loose of troops 

 of school-children armed with trowels and col- 

 lecting-tins — what this has to do with school- 

 gardening is hard to see — to help in the 

 extermination of rare plants. It would have 

 been much more to the point to have directed 

 attention to the urgent need for the protection of 

 wild plants against the avarice of collectors old 

 enough to know better, rather than to deplore the 

 fact that the vasculum and fern-trowel are not 

 yet ubiquitous in this country. We have quite 

 enough plant-collectors as it is, though we could 

 do with more students of plant-life in field and 

 garden — that is quite another thing. 



(5) The editor of the "Present-Day Garden- 

 ing " series, which is rapidly becoming an invalu- 

 able library in itself, is to be congratulated on 

 having secured for the authorship of the volume 

 on dahlias the president of the National Dahlia 

 Society. Needless to say, Mr. Gordon has suc- 

 ceeded in giving, within comparatively small com- 

 pass, an immense amount of information of all 

 kinds about these flowers, including an extremely 

 interesting historical chapter and the thoroughly- 

 practical hints regarding cultivation that might 

 be expected from a writer of authority upon the 

 subject. The eight coloured plates by Mr. 

 Waltham are well chosen and beautiful. It may 

 seem somewhat ungracious to find fault with such 

 a fine series as this, but the pasteboard binding 

 is very liable to get cracked in use, and one can- 

 not help wishing that more resistant material had 

 been used in covering the books. F. Cavers. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 Wild Life. An Illustrated Monthly. Vol. i., Nos. 



1-5. Edited by Douglas English. (London: 



Wild Life Publishing Co., 1913.) 

 Last summer the members of the Zoological 

 Photographic Club held an exhibition at the offices 

 of the Zoological Society, and the object of this 

 periodical is to continue and extend the work ot 

 that exhibition. The first number appeared in 

 January and promised well. Mr. R. B. Lodge 

 wrote of eagles and vultures in Albania, and Mr. 

 Farren, who showed some wonderfully beautiful 

 photographs, described the life of the egrets in 

 the valley of the Guadalquivir, where Mr. Abel 

 Chapman and Mr. Buck have done so much to 

 preserve this species. Mr. Francis Ward had 

 some interesting notes and plates of fishes, living 

 birds, and otters : the photographs were taken 

 in his pond on a method of his own invention. 



