234 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
strain essentially new and produced spontaneously by nature through aia 
bud variation, or otherwise, synonymous with the older term ‘sport’’’; “Zyg 
tions as these. However, the defect in regard to Mendelian heredity is mainly 
a “sin of omission,’ and the prepared teacher can easily fill in the vacancy, 
especially with the aid of PUNNET?T’s Mendelism. DAVENPORT’s book can 
not fail to interest, instruct, and inspire, and is deserving of a wide distri- 
bution.—Geo. H. SHULL. 
Popular manuals 
The scientific men and women of England have always been interested 
in interpreting the result of science to the intelligent public not trained in 
science. Even their scientific papers are apt to be more popular in form than 
are those prepared in the United States. We cannot but feel that science 
in America has suffered very much from lack’of proper interpretation. Those 
who are willing to write on scientific subjects for popular reading are usually 
unfit for the task; and those who are fit, are unwilling. The projected Cam- 
bridge Manuals of Science and Literature furnish a notable illustration of the 
continuous effort in England to interest the public in scientific matters. They 
are not intended primarily “for school use or for young beginners,” but also 
for educated readers who want brief and simple, and at the same time authori- 
tative statements of recent discoveries. The five volumes now issued, dealing 
with cree will indicate the subjects treated and the kind of authors pre- 
paring them 
The coming of evolution, the story of a great revolution in science, by 
Joun W. Jupp (171 pp.); Heredity, in the light of recent research, by L. 
DONCASTER (140 pp.); Plant-animals, a study in symbiosis, by FREDERICK 
KEEBLE (163 pp.); The natural history of coal, by E. A. NEWELL ARBER (163 
pp.); Plant life on land, considered in some of its biological aspects, by F. C. 
Bower (172 pp.). : 
To issue such a series, at one shilling a volume, is to place this material 
in the hands of a very wide range of readers, and must react favorably upon 
the general interest in science. 
Another series, having the same purpose, is called Home University Library, 
ten volumes of which have now appeared. It is an English series (Williams 
and Norgate), as one might expect, published in this country by Henry Holt 
and Company. The books are larger than the Cambridge Manuals (uni- 
formly 256 pp.), selling for 75 cents, and are more pretentious in contents, 
suited doubtless to a somewhat better trained group of readers. Four of 
the volumes are of interest to botanists, as follows: Modern geography, by 
Marion I. Newsictn; Polar exploration, by W. S. Bruce; The evolution of 
plants, by D. H. Scort; Evolution, by Patrick GreppEs and J. ARTHUR 
THOMSON. 
