658 



NATURE 



[August 28, 19 r 



difficult to know where the line should be drawn, 

 and that a book of this kind tends to indefinite 

 expansion in successive editions ; this objection is 

 to some extent met by the author's smaller book, 

 the "Kleine botanische Praktikum," but since the 

 student can obtain the necessary theoretical matter 

 in the ordinary descriptive text-books, it would 

 appear better to limit the scope of a practical 

 manual to directions for actual laboratory work. 

 The use of the copious index relating to technique 

 is facilitated by its being printed on coloured paper 

 in this edition, which will be welcomed by teachers 

 and students of botanical microscopy as the best 

 and most comprehensive treatise on the subject in 

 existence. 



(7) This little book opens up what is to a large 

 extent a new field, and will be of the utmost value 

 to students of geology and plant ecology, as well 

 as pala?obotany. Despite its small size it con- 

 tains an immense amount of skilfully condensed 

 information, and is mainly occupied by concise 

 and clear directions for the examination of fossil 

 and subfossil plant remains in coal, peat, clay, 

 &c. The names of Prof. Potonie and Dr. Gothan 

 art- sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the 

 major part of the work, which is concerned with 

 the preparation and examination of fossil and sub- 

 fossil plant remains generally, but special atten- 

 tion may be directed to the excellent section by 

 Dr. Stoller dealing with the investigation of 

 peat deposits from the ecological and phyto- 

 geographical point of view. 



(8) The labour undertaken by Dr. Jongmans 

 in compiling an annual bibliogiaphy of palaeo- 

 botanical literature has evidently secured the 

 approval and support which it deserved, though 

 one may regret the delay in issuing the third 

 volume of this work, containing the titles for the 

 years 1910 and 191 1, with a supplementary list 

 of 1909 publications. The mere citation of titles, 

 however, forms a small part of the work, occupy- 

 ing only forty pages of this volume ; the remainder 

 (more than 500 pages) is devoted to the indexing 

 of the plants dealt with in some 800 

 books and papers, a few words being added in 

 each case to indicate the general nature of the 

 communication made concerning the plant named. 



(9) The original plan of the " Icones Plantarum 

 Formosanarum " was to publish in a long series 

 of fascicles, extending over some fifteen years, 

 a flora which should contain full descriptions of all 

 plants found in Formosa. However, even in the 

 first fascicle (191 1) this plan had to be altered 

 slightly so as not to exceed the grant made by 

 the authorities, and accordingly only the new 

 species were described,' with notes on the others; 

 and in the meantime a further reduction of the 



NO. 228", VOL. Qtl 



grant has unfortunately compelled Dr. Hayata to 

 cut out nearly all references to species in this 

 second fascicle. Even in this somewhat truncated 

 form, the work is of the utmost value; the present 

 instalment contains keys to the families, genera, 

 and species, an enumeration of Formosan plants 

 from Saxifragaceae to Dipsacea?, with their locali- 

 ties and geographical distribution, descriptions of 

 new plants, and forty very fine plates. The total 

 number of flowering plant species now known 

 from Formosa is a little more than 3000. 

 For the interesting conifer Tahvania crypto- 

 merioid.es a diagnosis is given of the male flowers, 

 which were first discovered in 191 1; in its male 

 flowers this genus shows marked general resem- 

 blance to Cunninsrhamia. F. Cavers. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 Einfiihrung in die Spektrochemie. By Prof. G. 



Urbain. Uebersetzt von Dr. U. Meyer. Pp. 



viii + 213 + 9 plates. (Dresden and Leipzig: 



Theodor Steinkopff, 1913.) Price 9 marks. 

 This book is a translation of the French edition 

 which has already been reviewed in these columns. 

 It is based on a course of spectroscopy given by 

 the author at the Sorbonne, and will be found use- 

 ful in this country to colleges taking a short 

 course in the subject for advanced students. 



The book contains an excellent and up-to-date 

 account of the various methods used in the pro- 

 duction of spectra. The descriptions of the 

 methods employed are very clear and well illus- 

 trated with diagrams, and contain many laboratory 

 details necessary to know in order to repeat the 

 methods with facility, but which are generally 

 omitted from text-books. 



Following this, which occupies nearly half the 

 book, are chapters on phosphorescence and absorp- 

 tion spectra. A final chapter is devoted to the 

 analysis of spectra into series and the laws of 

 series, in which the chief facts of the subject are 

 clearly set forth. 



.1 Galla-Englisli, English-Galla Dictionary. Col- 

 lected and Compiled by E. C. Foot. (Cam- 

 bridge University Press, 1913.) Price 65. net. 

 The Galla are people living in Abyssinia from 

 Harrar, on the east, to the Sudan frontier on the 

 west, and from Wollo, in the north, down to the 

 southern frontier. Some, too, live in British East 

 Africa, and a detached tribe to the west of Witu, 

 on the north bank of the Tana river. Mr. Foot 

 describes them as "a most industrious, pastoral 

 and agricultural people, who are also keen 

 traders." 



Mr. Foot has been studying their language since 

 he went to Abyssinia first, in 1907, and the volume 

 gfives the results of his industry. As Sir John 

 Harrington savs in his introductory note, the 

 dictionary should be of service not only in 

 j Abyssinia, but also on her frontiers with the Sudan. 

 1 Uganda, and East Africa. 



