51 



most drawings have to be larger than the actual specimen under con- 

 sideration to show even a minimum of structure. As the book is 

 especially designed for beginners, it is to be regretted that hairlines, 

 indicating the size of the insects, are not included with all the draw- 

 ings. 



This book can be used with profit in nature study groups or clubs 

 and in biology classes which range in age from the early teens 

 through adults. The suggested points for field observations, tricks 

 for catching some of the insects, the study of live insects, and the 

 simple rearing experiments should certainly provide excellent train- 

 ing and considerable enjoyment. The author appropriately closes his 

 Introduction by listing a few advanced books to which the inquisi- 

 tive beginner might turn for more detailed information. 



FoRDHAM University James Forbes 



A Nature Study Book 



The Flower Family Album. By Helen Field Fischer and Gretchen Harsh- 

 barger. 130 pages, 62 full-page plates. The University of Minnesota Press. 

 1941. $2.50. 



When this book first appeared, bound in stiff paper and printed 

 by the off-set process, it was reviewed briefly in Torreya 40:212 

 (1940). It proved so popular that it is now issued by the Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota Press, bound in attractive cloth covers. The 

 size remains the same, 8^ by 11 inches, with the same attractive 

 illustrations showing 458 common wild and cultivated flowers 

 belonging to some forty plant families. The drawings are all to 

 the same scale, with the height in inches indicated at the side of 

 the page. For each family a sketch of a single blossom, or flower 

 cluster is shown to give the family characteristics. Most of these 

 latter are rather generalized, some without enough detail to be 

 of much help. In the introduction there is a series of sketches of 

 flower types with references to the pages where the corresponding 

 types of flowers are found, this making a sort of key so that one 

 can hunt more easily to find an unknown plant's portrait. 



Opposite each plate is a description of the family and of the 

 flowers illustrated. These are Entirely non-technical, often somewhat 

 whimsical, but clear and accurate. For example the description of 

 the flowers of the legumes reads, 'Tn most of the family they (the 



