REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. _ 
Anatomy of British Carices, by F. C. Crawford, pp. XIII. and 124, with 
20 plates and portrait. Privately printed. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 
7/6 net. 
This book possesses many curious and interesting features. The author 
was born in North Berwick, in 185r, and in time dev eloped a keen love 
for natural history. Eventually he went to London, where he made a 
fortune on the Stock Exchange, and at the age of forty-five retired, and 
decided to devote the rest of his life to natural history pursuits. At the 
Edinburgh Botanic Garden he became a voluntary demonstrator in botany, 
taking a keen interest in the students, and doing everything in his power to 
rear a race of naturalists. The present work is an instalment of a mono- 
graph on the Carices he was prevailed upon to undertake, and upon it 
he has devoted both time, energy, and money to no small degree. In 
the beginning of February 1908, the MS. was sent to the printer, and a 
week later he died, the proof sheets being delivered on the day of his 
funeral. 
Naturally enough, the work opens with a biographical sketch, by Mr. 
PX. Vc Pressland ; z and Prof. I. B. Balfour has written an introductory preface 
and been responsible for seeing the work through the press. After a 
brief account of the general anatomy of the Carices, their special anatomy 
is described, dealing with the structure of stem, leaf, rhizome and root 
of each species in turn. The language used is often quaint, not to say 
unorthodox, and we can well believe that ‘ frequent discussion tool place 
. of his use of descriptive terms,’ and his retort that ‘ if people can’t 
understand plain language, so much the worse for them,’ would not always 
carry conviction. Secting cutting is referred to as ‘ operating’ on the 
plant, and he evidently preferred ‘to study the living plant than ‘ fashing 
with its inwards.’ He had little respect for custom in the use of technical 
terms, but the more important deviations are explained by the editor in 
footnotes. 
Fifteen of the plates give forty-seven figures of sections from photo- 
micrographs, and are most interesting and v aluable, the rest are figures of 
epidermal tissues and stomata, said to be from camera lucida drawings, 
but we should imagine that there was something wrong either with the 
instrument or the observer, as some of them are impossible structures. 
Anatomy, however, was not his forte, and we cannot but regret that the 
author was not spared to publish his extensive notes and observations on 
the habitats, external forms and adaptations of these interesting plants. 
NEW BIRD BOOKS. 
Experience during the past few years has led us to expect anything 
from the press of Messrs. Witherby & Co., to be not only sound as regards 
its scientific value, but all that can be desired from an artistic and typo- 
graphical point of view. The Home-life of the Spoonbill, the Stork, and some 
Herons (47 pp., 32 plates , 5/-) just published, is quite up to this firm’ s usual 
standard. The volume is written and illustrated by Bentley Beetham, F.Z. S., 
and describes the haunts and habits of the Spoonbill, White Stor ie Gon 
mon Heron and Purple Heron. Localities are by no means definite, for 
reasons which are perhaps obvious. The narrative of the photographing 
expedition i is fascinating to read, but the great attraction of the volume lies 
in the thirty-two plates , mounted on tinted paper. These are reproduced 
by the half-tone process, but the rulings are so fine, and the fiat of the 
ink has been so carefully chosen, that it is difficult to tell that the plates are 
not actual photographs, They illustrate various stages in the life history 
of the species now referred to, though the Spoonbill series is perhaps the 
best. From the same firm comes The Birds of Dumfriesshire, by Hugh S. 
Gladstone (xc. + 472 pp., 25/- net), to which ornithologists have been 
looking forward ey eons little time. It is splendid; and in many Ways is 
an improvement even upon the excellent county avi-faunas which Messrs, 
Witherby have previously produced. We are also surprised to notice 
rgtr Feb. 1. 
