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florets;" and many which show that Mr. Nairne does not in the 

 least understand the authors he quotes. Thus he says Adhatoda 

 vasica is "so closely allied" to two species of Justicia that "it 

 seems a pity that they have ever been separated, particularly as 

 this opinion is also expressed in H." — an initial which does not 

 represent the locality of which good intentions are said to supply 

 the pavement, but stands for the Flora of British India. It may be 

 pointed out that the separation took place a long while before any 

 opinion could have been "expressed in H.," and, further, what is 

 expressed there — i. e., that " the genus should be merged in Justicia, 

 Sect. Beto?iica" — is by no means what is conveyed by Mr. Nairne's 



The last quoted example is only one out of very many which 

 might be adduced to show what is the chief defect of the book — 

 it is based upon insufficient knowledge, whether of the country 

 (as is shown by the very large proportion of plants not seen by the 

 author, which are relegated to smaller type and marked with an 

 asterisk), of botanical terminology (no author's names are appended 

 to the species), or of the plants themselves. The title is misleading : 

 for (as we have already said) the large and important orders 

 Cyperacea and Graminee, with others, are omitted, and "Western 

 India" is "taken as synonymous with the Bombay Presidency," 

 with the further exclusion of Sind. The volume is of convenient 

 size and nicely printed : Mr. Nairne's intentions are excellent, but 

 he has not the knowledge needed to carry them out. 



The Student's Introductory Handbook of Systematic Botany. By 

 Joseph W. Oliver. London : Blackie & Son. 1894. 8vo, 

 pp. xvi, 366, with 170 figures in the text. Price 4s. 6d. 



Object-lessons in Botany from Forest, Field, and Garden; a first Botany- 

 book for Teachers of Little Students. By Edward Snelgrove, 

 B.A. London : Jarrold & Sons. 1894. 8vo, pp. viii, 109. 

 Price 2s. 6d. 



Mr. J. W. Oliver, whose Elementary Botany was noticed in this 

 Journal for 1891 (p. 220), has now given us one of the best little text- 

 books we have seen for some time. It contains nothing new or 

 startling in arrangement; in fact, is in several points distinctly 

 behind the times, and represents rather the state of our knowledge 

 some ten years back, at the date of the issue of the translation of 

 Goebel's Outlines, than in January, 1894, when the author signed 

 his preface. This is what we should expect from the list of works, 

 ten in number, consulted and recommended : Goebel's is the most 

 recent of these which deals with classification. Bentley's Manual 

 has no doubt served its turn, and has been a useful book in its time ; 

 but it is out of date now, and nothing remains but to give it decent 

 burial ; when there are more modern works ready to hand, it seems 

 a pity to direct the student to the ancient ones ; he will have quite 

 enough to unlearn when he has digested the very latest. 



The Handbook is intended chiefly for students who have already 

 passed through an elementary course, such as that laid down in the 



