June i8, 1908J 



NATURE 



149 



eroding power of the glaciers themselves, well armed 

 with materials gathered all along their course. 



Dr. Machacek proceeds to describe the .Alpine 

 climate, the flora and fauna, and the influence of the 

 topography upon human occupations. We cannot 

 help thinking that a similar book for English readers 

 would have been written with the view of attracting the 

 ordinary tourist. Dr. Machacek, on the other hand, 

 in pursuance of the plan of the series, aims at giving 

 systematic information to those who may never see 

 the .Alps, but who regard them as features about 

 which something- should be known. There is a 

 Teutonic touch in this ; but to pursue this aspect of a 

 cheap handbook, which is presumably meant to sell 

 by thousands, would be to raise all manner of ques- 

 tions about the level of our own public education. 



Prof. Pohlig has also a good deal to say about 

 glaciation. iiHis sketch of the geological history of the 

 earth (pp. 2-4) leads up to the glacial epoch, and 

 presumes with some audacity that the first continents 

 appeared in Carboniferous times, and that the first 

 marked differentiation of climatic zones took place 

 in the later part of the Cainozoic era. .\n Ice-age 

 affecting the whole globe seems a very chilly pre- 

 paration for the coming of man, though Dr. Pohlig 

 regards these occurrences as in some way connected. 

 We are tempted to ask what organic change was 

 heralded by the Permo-Carboniferous Ice-age, which 

 iloes not seem to be referred to? The book is based 

 on lectures by the author, and retains the vigour of 

 style of one who is not afraid of controversy. There 

 are even references, thinly veiled, to persons who 

 have come off badly in the fray (pp. 74 and g6). The 

 descriptions of the types of early man, and of the 

 mammals associated with him, are of special interest. 

 .\ larger number of specific names is employed for 

 the latter than zoologists usually accepc. From the 

 description of the splendid Scandinavian boulders 

 scattered over Holland and North Germany (which 

 surely travelled more rapidly than the author sug- 

 gests), down to the subdivisions of the giant deer, the 

 book has an individuality about it which marks it out 

 ;igreeablv among compendiums of useful knowledge. 



G. A. J. c: 



j\£IF ZEALAND PLANTS. 



riants of Neiv Zealand. By R. M. Laing and E. W. 

 Blackwell. Second and revised edition. Pp. 

 .xii + 454; illustrated. (Christchurch, Wellington, and 

 Dunedin, New Zealand; Melbourne and London: 

 Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., 1907.) Price 15^. net. 



WE are glad to welcome the second edition of this 

 interesting book, which is essentially a popular 

 account of the flowering plants of New Zealand, 

 exclusive of the grasses. It appears that no less than 

 1400 species of flowering plants are now known to be 

 indigenous w-ithin the limits of the dominion, and 

 doubtless others remain to be discovered in the more 

 remote mountain ranges and outlying islands. No 

 less than three-quarters of the whole appear to be 

 fndeniic, comprising many species of singular beauty 



NO. 2016, VOL. 78] 



and scienLific interest. Thanks to the energy of local 

 botanists, great strides have been made during recent 

 years in our knowledge of this wonderful flora, and 

 the earlier descriptive work of Hooker, based largely 

 upon dry material, has been to a great extent supple- 

 mented by investigations of the living plants in their 

 native environment. 



The chief merit of the volume before us lies in 

 the numerous beautiful photographic illustrations of 

 the more conspicuous species, upon the selection and 

 execution of which the authors are to be sincerely 

 congratulated. 



.\ general introduction gives a short account of the 

 principal features of the vegetation of the open 

 country, the fern land, the bush, the scrub, and the 

 alpine regions. Throughout the work, indeed, a large 

 amount of attention is devoted to oecological problems, 

 very extensive use being made of the recent work of 

 Dr. Cockayne in this direction. This feature, together 

 with the frequent references to Maori legend and 

 tradition, give to the work an unusual interest. The 

 general introduction also includes a discussion on the 

 affinities of the New Zealand flora, which is perhaps 

 a little out of place in a work of this character, though 

 interesting in itself. The relationship to .Australia 

 is emphasised by the statement that 80 per cent, of 

 the genera are common to the two countries, and 

 explained by the common origin of a large part of the 

 two floras from the north by way of a northern ex- 

 tension of the land in Eocene times, which also 

 accounts for the subtropical facies of the New Zea- 

 land flora as a whole. The absence of many of the 

 most important .Australian genera, such as Eucalyptus, 

 .Acacia, Casuarina, Hakea, is perhaps to be explained 

 in accordance with ^^'allace's well-known theory of 

 the separation of .Australia into two islands in Creta- 

 ceous times, to the western of which the most char- 

 acteristic .Australian genera were confined. 



Other important elements in the New Zealand flora 

 are the .South American and sub-.Antarctic. The 

 former, illustrated by the genera Fuchsia and Cal- 

 ceolaria, may perhaps be explained in accordance with 

 the late Captain Hutton's theory of a Pacific continent 

 connecting Nfew Zealand and New Guinea u-ith Chili 

 in Cretaceous or early Eocene times, while the latter 

 may be similarly accounted for by the existence of a 

 number of islands in the .Antarctic ocean in Pliocene 

 times which have since disappeared. 



.A very short " Botanical Introduction " appears to 

 us to require elaboration and illustration in order to 

 make it really intefligible to the uninitiated, to whom 

 it is apparently addressed. .A considerable advance 

 upon previous works on the New Zealand flora is 

 made in the abandonment of the familiar system of 

 Hooker and Bentham in favour of Engler's arrange- 

 ment of families. 



The book is well got up, but somewhat uncomfort- 

 ably heavy, especially as a travelling companion, for 

 which purpose it ought to be largely in demand. In 

 future editions a little more care might advantageously 

 be given to the page headings, several of which are 

 at present very misleading. .A. D. 



