July 2, 1908] 



NATURE 



195 



Richthofen's scientific work must look elsewhere; but 

 in this book they will find, not only an interesting 

 account of his journeys, but a marvellous revelation 

 of the real China. On almost every page of the narra- 

 tive stand prominent, not merely the sources of China's 

 weakness, but also the enormous latent power of the 

 country, and there is borne in upon one an almost 

 oppressive feeling that a China awakened, reformed, 

 and patriotic could set the world at nought, and a 

 China ambitious besides would be a real yellow peril. 

 But all those who knew the late Baron F. von Richt- 

 hofen will value this bool-c less for its description of 

 China than as a picture of its author; on every page 

 of the narrative his simplicity, honesty, and nobility 

 of character stand forth, his steadfastness in pursuing 

 the course he had set before him in spite of discourage- 

 tiient, the intrepidity and tact which extricated him 

 from ditficult.and dangerous situations, when set upon 

 and mobbed by the colliers in Shantung, when he 

 visited the bitterly anti-foregn " university " of Yolu- 

 shan, and especiallv in the extremely critical occurrence 

 which put an end to his further travels, all stamp him 

 as a true representative of that aristocracy, not merely 

 of birth, but of intellect and character, which by 

 common consent raises some individuals far above the 

 level of the great mass of their fellow beings. No 

 more acceptable or worthy memorial of their author 

 could well have been contrived than these two un- 

 pretentious volumes. 



THE GENERA OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 

 Genera Siphonogamarum ad Systcma Englerianum 

 conscripta. By Dr. K. VV. von Dalla Torre et Dr. 

 H. Harms. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, igoo- 



111(17.) 



THE completion of the " Genera Siphonogamarum," 

 by Drs. K. W. von Dalla Torre and H. Harms, 

 will have been welcomed by all students of the tax- 

 onomy of siphonogams — or, as we are still used to 

 say, phanerogams — and no doubt also by many other 

 botanists. Invaluable as Engler and Prantl's 

 " Naturliche Pflanzenfamilien " is as the embodiment 

 of the most recent researches in the systematic botanv 

 of phanerogams, it suffers from one serious omission, 

 the lack of all references to the original descriptions 

 of the genera and their subdivisions. To fill that gap 

 was the primary object of the publication of the 

 " Genera Spihonogamarum." At the same time it 

 was intended to make the synonymv of the genera as 

 complete as possible, and give a comprehensive de- 

 scription, on the one hand, of their disposition within 

 the families and the Englerian system generally, and, 

 on the other, of their subdivisions. Lastly, the work 

 should serve as a catalogue for those botanical col- 

 lections which are arranged after the " Naturliche 

 Pflanzenfamilien"; and there is no doubt that in 

 most respects the problem has been solved in an 

 admirable way. 



. The book consists of two parts. The first part 

 (pp. 1-637) is headed by an " Enumeratio Familiarum 

 Siphonogamarum," and contains the disposition of 

 tlie systematic units above the rank of species, whilst 

 (lie second (pp. 63S-921) is taken up by an " Index 



NO. 201S, VOL. 78I 



Nominum." The basis of the whole work is, as in- 

 dicated in the title, Engler and Prantl's " Naturliche 

 Pfianzenfamilien " ; but where the disposition or the 

 conception of the units has been superseded by more 

 recent monographs, or otherwise proved untenable, 

 due notice is taken of the changes entailed thereby. 

 The decision whether a proposed alteration was to 

 be adopted or not must frequently have been a very 

 difficult and delicate task for the authors; but, on the 

 whole, thev seem to have acted with much tact and 

 sound judgment. The genera are given their succes- 

 sive numbers in the system in heavy type, whilst their 

 places within the families are indicated by figures in 

 light tvpe. The references in the index are to both 

 sets of numbers, which makes the index very handy 

 as a collection catalogue. All citations are accom- 

 panied by the dates of publication, so that the settle-, 

 ment of questions of priority is greatly facilitated. 

 The reference to the original publication is followed by 

 references to Endlicher's "Genera Plantarum." Ben- 

 tliam and HooI«r's " Genera Plantarum," and Engler 

 and Prantl's " Naturliche Pflanzenfamilien," and by 

 a note containing the approximate number of species 

 known, and a very concise indication of the geo- 

 graphical distribution. Then the synonyms are 

 enumerated in their chronological sequence, each 

 starting a fresh line, and lastly we are given the dis- 

 position of the subdivisions of the genus with the 

 corresponding synonyms. 



Frequent use of the book has revealed here and 

 there errors, almost exclusively in the reference 

 figures, but not more than one has to be prepared for, 

 in a work that contains almost 43,000 names, with 

 as many references. There is, however, one weak 

 point which cannot be passed without criticism. .As 

 the references to the two " Genera Plantarum " of 

 Endlicher and of Bentham and Hooker stand, they 

 su<Tgest that a given genus admitted by the authors 

 of the " Genera Siphonogamarum " is also admitted 

 as such by those earlier authors, whilst in fact it 

 merely means that they have dealt with it in some way 

 on the page quoted, and, indeed, frequently stated 

 that they do not consider the genus as tenable. For 

 instance, under Ligularia we find " B.H. H., 449," 

 but if we turn to p. 449 of vol. ii. of Bentham and 

 Hooker's "Genera Plantarum," we find that Ligu- 

 laria is there actually reduced to Senecio. Thus the 

 impression is created that the conception which the 

 authors of the " Genera Siphonogamarum " have of 

 Ligularia is supported by the authors of " Genera 

 Plantarum," whilst just the opposite is the case. The 

 addition of " sub Senecione " in the case quoted would 

 have been sufficient to make that clear. This is, how- 

 ever, practically the only serious blemish in a work 

 which must have taxed the judgment and patience of 

 the authors to the utmost. 



The execution of the typography in a book like the 

 present is, of course, of paramount importance, and 

 it may be stated at once that it leaves nothing to 

 desire, with the possible exception that the type used in 

 the " Index " for the numbers of the genera admitted 

 might have been a little heavier. Inconvenient is the 

 throwing together in the index of the letters I and J, 



