60 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
lilac, mauve, violet, or blue”: these last being the most highly 
developed. It is unnecessary to say that Mr. Allen tells his story 
in an attractive manner; and his conclusions follow naturally 
enough if we ‘accept the eat upon which they are based. But 
Mr. Allen’s notions of the colour of many flowers seems to us far 
from accurate. We do not Siva with him in thinking that the 
petals of the cherry are “ omen | deeply tinged with pink’ (p. 80) ; 
we should not call the flow ser Lo te Dortmanna “ sky blue’’ or 
those of L. wrens *‘ dingy inipie” (p. 48); it is not the ‘ throat,” 
but 9 upper lip, of Linaria spuria, that is ‘* purple” (p. rete the 
flowers of Hesperis — are not ‘‘a fine purple” (p. 44); the 
red of the apple-blossom is more than a ‘slight blush’’ (p. 75). 
ese are small taktans and would be of no importance did not 
Mr. Allen base theories upon them. Thus he says, ‘‘ Sometimes 
un 
this the little milkwort (Polygala vulgaris) affords an excellent 
example, for it is cone ries white, usually pink, and frequently 
blue. Here we may fairly regard the pink as the normal hue, 
while the white is doubtless due to reversion, and the blue to 
‘progressive modification, not yet fully selected by insects; so that 
in all probability it is now actually in course of acquiring a new 
colour” (p. 74). We think it would be paid oe that the 
ilkwort is more frequently blue than any other r. Allen 
speaks of ‘‘ Cephalanthera grandiflora and most other British species” 
of Orchids as being “‘ very diversified in sore ; his description of 
Aceras anthropophora as having ‘‘ green s and etals, edg 
with red, and a caeaie lip, eq? fringed” ( A 70) would convey ie 
any one who did not’ know the plant a by no means accura 
impression. He telly us that ‘floating plants tend as a rule ‘0 
ecome green-flowered’’ (p. 102); but this rule is surely ‘‘ more 
honoured in the breach than in the observance’’ when we take into 
t such floating plants as the water-lilies, Hydrocharis, 
Limnanthemum, Polygonum ampbibium, Hottonia, Alisma natans, 
Batrachium, and Utricularia. It appears to us that Mr. Allen is 
little prone to bend facts so as to fit them in with his own theories. 
He might well take a lesson from Mr. Darwin in this matter; and 
his Sphichanions will be more valuable ‘tt they are based on a larger 
amount of observation. 
A Handbook of Cinchona Culture. By Karent Weset von GorKom, 
formerly Chief Inspector of Cultures i in the Netherlands Hast 
Indies. Translated ee Jackson, Secretary 
of the innean Society of oe Am cote ane 
London: Triibner. 1883 [1882]. oe pp. [viii.] 2 
Tue indefatigable Secretary of the Linnean Society a fo und 
time, in spite of his numerous duties, to translate this important 
book from the original Dutch. The title, although correct so far as 
it goes, hardly gives a fair idea of the work, which deals not only 
with the culture of Cinchona, but includes its early history, 
