Reviews and Book Notices. 375 



For Love of Beasts, is a pamphlet issued in the interests of our animal 

 friends, by the Animals' Friend Society, of York House, Portugal Street, 

 Kingsway, London. It is by John Galsworthy, and is sold at twopence. 



The Growth of Groups in the Animal Kingdom. By R. E. Lloyd. 



Longmans, Green & Co., 1912. 185 pp., 5/- net. 



In the opinion of the author, who is connected with the Indian Medical 

 Service, this book contains ' an assortment of personal opinions, most of 

 which are borrowed from well-known sources,' and is ' not in the least a 

 review of the present position of biology,' and with this opinion we cannot 

 disagree. His point is that ' groups of like animals, such as are small in 

 membership and temporary in duration, are common in nature. A large 

 part of the book deals with the origin, fate and significance of such groups,' 

 The author also informs us that the book ' deals with the subject of evolu- 

 tion in a somewhat discursive :nanner,' and with this we also agree. .'\s 

 a frontispiece is an excellent coloured pate of ' Varieties of AIns ratlus.' 



British Violets. By Mrs. E. S. Gregory. Cambridge : Heffer & Sons, 

 pp. xxiii. and 108, 6/- net. 



Although this is essentially a book for the specialist, there is a touch 

 of human interest in it which will appeal to a much wider circle. It is 

 one of those little volumes which show so clearly how much enjoyment 

 may be obtained form the study of wild flowers, ' even so late as June 

 of the present year a day on the rough fen made me feel young again in 

 spite of my seventy years." We are further told that the work has been 

 done in hours of recreation, not a man's recreation, for we are reminded 

 that ■ a man's work ends with the sun ; a woman's work is never done,' 

 yet in these rare moments Mrs. Gregory has brought together a mass of 

 valuable details about violets, which, as every field botanist knows, are 

 plants which provide him with endless puzzles. Another pleasure is re- 

 called in the associations of quarter of a century or more, with kindred 

 spirits in different parts of the country, all able and willing to help un- 

 sparingly with the work ; one friend generously financing the book through 

 the press. In the 108 pages only the Nominium Section is dealt with 

 and this includes 12 species and very many varieties, forms and hybrids, 

 e.s., those under canina and Riviniana have about 20 pages each devoted 

 to them. Several new varieties and forms are described. V. Rivinimia 

 var. divisa and t\^'0 new varieties of canina, viz., pusilla and calcarea are 

 illustrated by photographs of herbarium specimens, so also is V. calcarea 

 Gregory. Other forms are illustrated in 14 full page figures clearly drawn 

 by Miss Mills, there are also 14 text figures. The book is clearly written 

 and well printed ; the synonyms are full and the forms have been care- 

 fully compared with continental plants and an effort made to bring them 

 into line, a by no means easy task. The confusing variety, due in some 

 measure to the readiness with which they hybridise, may be illustrated 

 by a series of intermediates between canina, lactea and Riviniana from 

 Kynance Downs, Cornwall, which posesss the habit of one species, the leaves 

 and stipules of a second, the flowers of a third, in an infinite variety of 

 •combinations. An unusual form of ' common ' name is introduced for 

 some of the varieties, c.^., V. canina X sylvatica (agg.) is Mrs. Jenner's 

 White Dog Violet, " another (var. lanceolata) is Mr. Druce's Violet, while 

 ' jVJiss Pallis's Violet ' has no varietal name. Evidently the work has 

 been based mainly on material collected in the Southern half of England 

 and in Ireland. North of England and Scottish forms are rare or absent, 

 one of the few mentioned is the ' Teesdale Violet,' V. ritpestris var. arenaria 

 from Cauldron Snout. There is thus plenty of scope for Northern botanists 

 to examine the violets in the light of this monograph and thereby greatly 

 extend the range here indicated. Mr. G. Claridge Druce has written an 

 introduction to the volume in which he outlines the progress of our know- 

 ledge of these favourite plants from the i6th century to the present 

 day.— T.W.W. 



1912 Dec. I. 



