NA TURE 



44' 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER lo, 190S. 



HEW EDITION OF STRASBURGER'S BOTANY. 



A Text-book of Botany. By Dr. E. Strasburger, Dr. 

 Fritz Noll, Dr. H. Schenck, and Dr. G. Karsten. 

 Third English edition, revised with eighth German 

 edition by Dr. W. H. Lang. Pp. .x+746. (Lon- 

 don: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1908.) Price 185. 

 net. 



THIS work is divided into two main divisions, 

 " General Botany " and " Special Botany." The 

 general botany commences with a section on morph- 

 ology, external and internal. Some alterations from 

 the second English edition have been made here, 

 notably in the account and diagrams of mitosis. A 

 paragraph on " reduction division," with illustrations, 

 has been added. The description of the secondary 

 tissues and their development is particularly good, 

 but the new diagrams illustrating this subject do not 

 add to the clearness. 



Physiology is treated under the heads, stability of 

 the plant body, nutrition, respiration, growth, move- 

 ment, reproduction. There are numerous small 

 changes and additions, chiefly due to research since 

 the second English edition appeared. Several new 

 illustrations, mostly taken from Schiniper's " Plant 

 Geography," have been introduced. 



This is an excellent account of plant physiology for 

 its size. .-X few criticisms, however, suggest them- 

 selves. Through an attempt to crowd too much into 

 a small' space, inadequacy, if not inaccuracy, has 

 sometimes resulted. For example, in the discussion 

 on the cause of the ascent of the transpiration cur- 

 rent, the evidence for the theories based on " the 

 cooperation of the living cells " and " the cohesive 

 force of water " respectively is slurred over in a dozen 

 lines, and twice as much space is devoted to dismiss- 

 ing "capillarity" and "atmospheric pressure," 

 which, all admit, are quite insufficient as causes. 



It seems a pity that the idea embodied in the term 

 " circulation of nitrogen " has not been given promin- 

 ence. Recent results tending to bridge over the gap 

 between the taking in of CO, and the appearance of 

 carbohydrates in assimilation are not mentioned. 



The paragraph on hybridisation has been enriched 

 by a short account of Mendelism. It. has not been 

 made sufficiently clear that the Mendelian proportions 

 2:1:1, Sec, are only approximated to when large 

 numbers are dealt with, and are dependent on the 

 laws of chance. A slight inaccuracy in statement 

 occurs in the last few lines of p. 314. It is not 

 50 per cent, of the serrate leaved individuals, but of 

 the whole second generation, which are of hybrid 

 nature. These 50 per cent, exhibit the dominant ser- 

 rate character. 



The greater part of the special botany has been 

 re-written. The order of treatment is, as in the pre- 

 vious edition, from the lowest to the highest forms. 

 Most of the sections on the Thallophytes have been 

 enlarged and altered, and two extra classes have been 

 added by the separation of the Heterocontae from the 

 green algas and the division of the fungi into the 

 NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



cUisses Phycomycetcs and Eumycetes. Numerous 

 excellent new illustrations have been included which 

 greatly add to the value of this part of the book. 

 Particularly noticeable are several new figures of the 

 behaviour of nuclei in the reproductive phenomena of 

 the fungi. The Rhodophycese do not seem to have 

 received enough attention compared with the other 

 groups. 



.Amongst the .\rchcgonial£e the mosses are little 

 altered. The classification of the ferns has been re- 

 arranged, and there are several new figures. 



The remainder of the book, devoted to Phanero- 

 gams, has been completely re-written and re-illus- 

 trated. In the introduction to this part there is a 

 very useful comparative table of the " Alternation of 

 Generations." The treatment of the Gymnosperms, 

 and especially of the Cycads, is distinctly good. In 

 Ihe .Vngiosperms, after a general description of each 

 family, an account of some important genera of the 

 family is given, the oflicial .plants of the British Phar- 

 macoposia being noted in each case. This part of the 

 book is very copiously and excellently illustrated, a 

 large number of the figures being coloured. The 

 colouring leaves something to be desired in several 

 cases, but is much improved from the second English 

 edition. 



Throughout the work the arrangement and division 

 into paragraphs is such as to secure the utmost degree 

 of clearness. In each paragraph a leading idea is 

 printed in larger type, so that it impresses itself on 

 the memory, and serves as a centre round which the 

 subsidiary ideas may be grouped. The usefulness of 

 this is perhaps most noticeable in the part on 

 physiology. 



There are very few misprints. The only one worth 

 noticing is on p. 2S0, line 41, w^here " heliotropism " 

 should, of course, have been " geotropism." 



The translator has been most successful in his 

 work, the book reading as though originally written 

 in English. In spite of tlie criticisms offered on a 

 few points, this is one of the best, if not the best, 

 text-book extant. L. B. S- 



FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 

 Forest Entomology. By A. T. Gillanders. Pp. 422 + 

 xxii ; 348 figures. (Edinburgh and London : 

 Wm. Blackwood and Sons, 1908.) Price is.*;, net. 



MR. GILLANDERS, who is woods manager to 

 His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, has 

 produced a useful book for beginners in his " Forest 

 Entomology." "The main feature which is at- 

 tempted," we are told in the preface, " is recognition 

 of the insect from the damage, together with system-^ 

 atic characters and life-history details." The first-" 

 named ideal has been well carried out, the figures 

 given from photographs of the damage done being 

 a great help to the practical forester and novice of 

 forest entomology; we much regret, however, to see 

 that the insects which cause the damage are fre- 

 quently not shown at all. 



The introduction, of eighteen pages, deals briefly 

 with classification, metamorphosis, and structure. 



V 



