NATURE 
[MarcH 14, 1912 
POPULAR BOTANY. 
British Trees, including the Finer Shrubs for 
Garden and Woodland. By the late Rey. C. A. 
Johns. Edited by E. T. Cook. Pp. xvit+285+ 
56 plate (24 coloured). 
British Fungi: with a Chapter on Lichens. 
George Massee. Pp. x+551+40 
(coloured). 
(London: G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd. ; 
York: EP: Dutton and- Co, nid.) 
7s. Od. net each. 
By 
plates 
New 
Price 
NE of these two books, which are uniform 
in external appearance only, represents, 
we presume, the demand which has affected pub- 
lications of all kinds for books with coloured illus- 
trations. The result has been an output of a large 
number of bad books, and to this class we 
unhesitatingly relegate the new edition of Johns’s 
Trees and Shrubs. The coloured plates of the trees 
and shrubs are so poor—they appear to be photo- 
graphs daubed with colour—that in most cases it 
is only from the label at the foot that one can dis- 
cover what the picture is meant to represent. 
The value of coloured plates is, on the other hand, 
well shown by Mr. Massee’s book on fungi, since 
in the bold and well-executed plates by Miss Ivy 
Massee the distinguishing characters of many of 
the species described can be seen at a glance and 
in a manner which would be otherwise impossible. 
Mr. Massee’s book is mainly intended to enable 
the naturalist to determine the names of our 
British fungi; but it should do more than this, and 
should help to create a real and intelligent interest 
in the subject. 
The somewhat unorthodox statements met with 
here and there are decidedly refreshing, and should 
act as a stimulus to those who might otherwise 
be mere collectors of fungi. The first part of the 
book, consisting of 63 pages, serves as a general 
introduction to the systematic section of the book. 
In this earlier portion an adequate account of the 
structure and of the relationships of the various 
groups of fungi is given, which will enable the user 
fungal morphology. The chapters on methods of 
collection and modes of preservation are equally 
valuable. On the recognition of edible and poison- 
ous species the coloured plates play a most im- 
portant part, and the dictum of Dr. M. C. Cooke, 
“Eat them; if you live they are edible; if you die 
they are poisonous,” reminds us of the similar 
advice given by Mr. Belloc about the viper :— 
“Yet another great truth I record in my verse, 
That some vipers are venomous, some the reverse; 
A fact you may prove if you try 
NO, 22111) VOL. 89)| 
| praise. 
By procuring two vipers and letting them bite; 
With the first you are only the worse for the fight, 
But after the second you die.” 
A few words of criticism must be added, since 
| owing to some carelessness the enumeration of the 
figures on Plate ii. is incorrect, and the uninitiated 
person may not be able to recognise which is the 
poisonous fly agaric. It is also somewhat un- 
reasonable suddenly to come across the explana- 
| tion of Plate i. facing p. 83. 
In the second part it is difficult to find 
one’s way about, as no reference to pages is 
| given from the generic keys, and this entails a 
| good deal of tiresome hunting which might easily 
have been avoided. Apart from these slight 
blemishes, however, the book is deserving of all 
The short concluding chapter on lichens 
is quite useful, but we hope, with the author, that 
before long we may have a good book on these 
plants, and that it will be written and illustrated 
in as able a manner as the volume under review. 
To turn to the work on trees and shrubs is not a 
pleasant task. Had the truth of the saying about 
new wine and old bottles been appreciated, this 
new edition might not have been produced; and 
when the new wine proves to be bad, the disaster 
is all the more conspicuous. It is a book without 
order or definite plan of arrangement. Much use- 
ful and interesting information is given under the 
| different trees and shrubs described, but turning 
over the pages is somewhat like fishing in a bran 
pie, as one never knows what the next article will 
be. The plates also afford no clue, as for the most 
part they are distributed haphazard through the 
text without any reference to their proper posi- 
tions. There are a large number of reproductions 
from photographs, and these are in striking con- 
trast to those in colour. Most of them and several 
of the coloured illustrations also have obviously 
been taken in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 
and there seems to be no reason why this fact 
should not be stated. The plate of Salix fragilis 
| in colour is identical with a photograph published 
_in the Kew Bulletin in 1907. 
of the book to understand the essential details of | 
| 
| the tree. 
A curious case is afforded under Robinia, where 
; without any word of explanation an illustration of 
the curious and uncommon fastigiate variety at 
Kew is given, which would lead the ordinary reader 
to believe that this is the normal appearance of 
Then, again, the statement at the foot 
of a plate of a remarkably fine and healthy speci- 
men of the monkey puzzle (Araucaria imbricata) 
that it ‘is not suitable for Britain, as it soon dies 
off,” The book is 
unworthy of the text 
is, of course, a glaring error. 
further notice, for even 
figures are of no value. 
