SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



249 



NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON. 



An Introduction to Structural Botany. Part 11. 

 Flowerless Plants. By Dukinfield Henry 

 Scott, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., etc. 312 pp. 8vo, 

 illustrated by 114 figures. (London: Adam and 

 Charles Black, 1S96.) Price 3s. 6d. 



The second part of Dr. Scott's admirable manual 

 of structural botany is now before us. It consists 

 of a most carefully worked out history of the 

 structure of flowerless plants, which constitute 

 more than half of the vegetable world. Professor 

 Scott commences his work with details of the 

 external characters of Selaginella kraussiana, as a 

 type of the vascular cryptogams, following with 

 the internal characters of the vegetative organs, and 

 concludes with the reproduction and life-history. 

 The same plan also obtains with the male fern 

 Aspidium felix-mas. The "horse-tail" (Equisctuvi) 

 and liverworts are followed by the mosses and 

 algae ; the fungi, bacteri and myxomycetes, with 

 a summary in conclusion, completing his work. 

 In the former volume. Part i.. Dr. Scott was 

 enabled to give the main outlines of the struc- 

 ture of flowering plants by a full description of 

 three representative types, but the great variety 

 of organization among the flowerless plants has 

 rendered necessary no less than twenty-three types. 

 This large number even is hardly sufficient, as we 

 observe more than one important group is treated 

 generally and not specially. Still, the material 

 particulars of the life-histories shown so clearly in 

 this work will enable students of cryptogams to 

 easily correlate the others, after studying the 

 material described in this manual. Dr. Scott's 

 style is so lucid that the veriest beginner will 

 find pleasure as well as instruction in the pages 

 of his work. To the ordinary reader who knows 

 but little of the lower forms of plant life many of 

 the facts will come as a revelation, especially with 

 regard to the organs and manner of reproduction ; 

 which section of the life-history of these forms is 

 treated with much fulness and modern information. 

 Dr. Scott's position in the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 as Honorary Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory, and 

 his previous work as a professor in biology of the 

 Royal College of Science, London, give a tone of 

 authority for this book which will carry consider- 

 able weight with its readers. The work and its 

 illustrations have been admirably produced by the 

 publishers. It is one which cannot fail to hold its 

 place among the most thoughtful of students of 

 botany. 



TJie Lepidoptcra of the British Islands. Vol. iii. 

 Heterocera, Bombyces, Noctuae. 396 pp. large 8vo. 

 By Charles G. Barrett, F.E.S. (London: L. 

 Reeve and Co., i8g6.) Price 12s. 



Mr. Barrett's great work on the British Lepidop- 

 tera is proceeding as fast as we could expect, 

 considering the magnitude of his undertaking. 

 There is no attempt on his part to found new 

 theories or even to support in the least measure 

 those of other modern writers. He goes steadily 

 on the well-trodden path laid down in the first half 

 of this century by Stainton, Newman, Doubleday, 



and the school of their period. For the British 

 lepidopterist who cares more for his collection 

 than the study of the morphology of our butterflies 

 and moths, this work will provide endless interest. 

 The notes appearing after the descriptions of the 

 species are most valuable, because they contain 

 the vast experience accumulated by Mr. Barrett 

 during a long period of active field work. Added 

 to these notes, the author has drawn largely upon 

 the collecting experience of some of our best-known 

 workers. It is seldom that one can find fault with 

 a statement relative to the life-history of a British 

 species of lepidoptera by Mr. Barrett, as his 

 knowledge of the order is usually most exact. 

 He should, however, use great care in the choice of 

 expressions, when dealing with the records of 

 others, unless he has serious reason to doubt their 

 trustworthiness We cannot imagine that the 

 author, while writing oi Gastropacha ilicifolia. means 

 that he doubts its occurrence in Yorkshire, when he 

 says, on page 48, " About the same time larvae are 

 said to have been found on the moors near Sheffield 

 and Ripon." The word "said" in that sentence 

 seems to throw a doubt upon what many people 

 know to be a fact, and may lead students in a future 

 generation, when those now living who can vouch 

 for the truth of the captures of G. ilicifolia have 

 passed away, to imagine there was some doubt in our 

 time about the fact. We think this last volume is an 

 advance upon the two previous ones, as Mr. Barrett 

 has evidently greater interest in and larger know- 

 ledge of the habits of the Noctuae. We sincerely 

 trust that the author may be spared to continue 

 his work until he reaches the section of Micro- 

 Lepidoptera, and we can only regret that he did not 

 induce the publishers to commence the work with 

 that division, for few living men have a greater 

 knowledge of the life-histories included therein. 



Life in Ponds and Streams. By W. Furneaux, 

 F.R.G.S. 406 pp. Svo, illustrated with 8 coloured 

 plates and 311 figures in the text. (London: 

 Longmans, Green and Co., 1896). Price 12s. 6d. 



This handsomely produced book is another 

 volume of Messrs. Longmans' "Outdoor World 

 Library," and is an excellently compiled account 

 of freshwater life and its collection. The book is 

 divided into two parts, the first five chapters being 

 devoted to " The Collector's Work, the remainder 

 being on " Life in Ponds and Streams." Mr. 

 Furneaux appears to have taken considerable pains 

 to bring into his pages every subject which is likely 

 to be met with by the amateur in his first few 

 seasons, and the book will be found useful to many 

 young people who, in the early spring, are searching 

 for some interesting occupation for the coming 

 year. It is hardly necessary to say that such works 

 as this are of the utmost value in popularizing a 

 taste for the study of nature. Any shortcomings 

 may be readily overlooked in the good which 

 will be effected by the publication of a work of 

 this kind, and we cannot sufficiently compliment 

 the publishers on its production. 



Catalogue of the Minerals of Tasmania. By 

 W. F. Petterel. 103 pp. 8vo. (Launceston : 

 " Examiner" Office, 1S96.) Price 2S. 6d. 



This is something more than a Catalogue of 

 Minerals, because many of the names are accom- 

 panied by interesting notes upon the position in 

 which the subject is found, and the rarity or other- 

 wise as well as the range of its distribution in the 

 Colony of Tasmania. For instance, take " No. 34, 

 Beryl (silicate of aluminium and glucina). The 

 true emerald has not, so far, been found here, but 



