654 
NATURE 
[AuGUST 29, 1912 
notably helped by a fragment of Speusippus, 
Plato’s pupil and successor. This philosopher 
wrote a treatise wept “Opotwv, which most scholars, 
I fancy, take to have been a discussion of broad 
likenesses and unlikenesses, in other words, an 
account of the principles of the classification 
of animals. From the few fragments that 
remain, I believe, on the other hand, that the 
book simply dealt with isolated cases of unex- 
plained resemblance between creatures obviously 
and essentially different; it was, in fact, a fore- 
shadowing of our discussions on mimetism. In 
it Speusippus mentions that the Phycis resembled 
Perca and Channa, and these we know to have 
been Serranoid fish, probably S. scriba and 
S. cabrilla. The statement is not inappropriate to 
the wrasse, but is altogether inapplicable to the 
goby. 
After this parenthesis, we must now take leave 
of Dr. Lones’s book. In bringing what Aristotle 
has written into something of the shape and order 
of a modern text-book and into modern verbiage, 
we cannot but lose much of the charm of the 
original, the archaic method of description and 
the personal element of Aristotle’s style; but, on 
the other hand, we have a practical gain. If we 
want an easy and a pleasant glimpse into Aris- 
totelian science, we have it here; and the com- 
pilation has been done with due care and adequate 
learning, and in the earnest spirit of a scholar. 
D’Arcy W. THompson. 
RECENT, BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS. 
(1) A Textbook of Botany for Colleges and Univer- 
sities. By Members of the Botanical Staff of 
the University of Chicago—Drs. J. M. Coulter, 
€: IR. Barnessvand! Hi. (G) Cowles.. Vol: “iis, 
“Ecology.” Pp. x+485-964+a-q. (New 
York: American Book Co., n.d.) 
(2) Sub-alpine Plants: or Flowers of the Swiss 
Woods and Meadows. By H. Stuart Thompson. 
Pp. xv +325, and 33 coloured plates. (London: 
George Routledge and Sons, Ltd.; New York: 
E: P. Dutton’ and 1Go., 1912.) Price 7s: Gd: 
net. 
(3) Botany: Chapters on the Study of Plants. By 
G. S. Boulger. Pp. viii+119;_ illustrated. 
(Halifax: Milner and Co., n.d.) Price 1s. net. 
(Twentieth Century Science Series.) 
(4) Allgemeine Botanik. By Prof. A. Nathan- 
sohn. Pp. viiit471. (Leipzig: Quelle and 
Meyer, 1912.) Price 10 marks. 
(1) HE second volume of the Chicago text- 
book of botany, which deals with ecology, 
is a very clear exposition of plant-structures in 
NO. 2235, VOL. 89| 
| relation to their environment. It is a wide subject 
_of which to treat, and one is immediately struck 
with the way in which the authors have managed 
to deal with it in the comparatively limited space 
of 480 pages, including numerous illustrations. 
That this treatment has been eminently successful 
is due to a directness of expression combined with 
_a simplicity of presentation. The chapters are 
concise but lucid, and the arrangement of the 
subject-matter is very good. 
The general physiological ideas of the authors 
are placed before the student very clearly. The 
conception of the green plant as a manufacturer 
of its own food from raw materials is maintained 
in this volume as in vol. i., and the important 
point of view that this manufacture must not be 
confused with ‘‘ assimilation ’’ is one with which 
most biologists will have much sympathy. It 
leads at once to the same general conception of 
assimilation in all living organisms, and empha- 
sises the fact that whereas both plants and animals 
are consumers of organic substances, only plants 
are producers of that organic substance from raw 
materials. As a general principle it is an excel- 
lent conception of nutrition which is applicable 
to all living organisms, and the authors are to 
be congratulated on the boldness with which it is 
set forth. 
Emphasis is again laid upon the view that 
transpiration, if not a necessary evil, is ‘the 
greatest danger to which plants are exposed, and 
the harm that it entails certainly far exceeds any 
incidental good.’’ Careful consideration cannot 
but admit the logic of this view, which is so dif- 
ferent from what is usually taught in this country 
and from what is set forth in the “‘ Bonn Text- 
book.” 
The statements (on p. 593) that ‘‘ Batracho- 
spermum, when grown in weak light, develops 
only the embryonic or juvenile stage, known as 
the separate genus Chantransia,’’ and that in 
Stichococcus ‘‘ high concentration induces the 
development of filaments of elongated cells, once 
referred to the genus Rhaphidium,’’ are rather 
misleading in the light of modern knowledge of 
the algz concerned. 
In the section of chapter v. dealing with “repro- 
ductive behaviour in the seedless plants” pp. 
803-824), mention might with advantage have 
been made of the evolutionary series of the Volvo- 
cacee. 
The issue of the second volume of this work 
completes much the most important botanical text- 
book of recent years. It is a work of an exceed- 
| ingly high order of merit, and can be recommended 
without the slightest hesitation to all English- 
speaking students of botany. 
‘ 
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