﻿252 LICHENS OF ISLE OF MAN PRACTICAL PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY. 



will prefer the old spelling of "radicle" to the new "radical" 

 adopted by the authors. There are other minor errors of the kind, 

 which might easily be rectified in another edition. ^. L. S. 



Lichens of the Me of Man, collected in September, 1892. By W. H. 

 Wilkinson, F.L.S., F.E.M.S. Birmingham. 

 This is a paper of ten pages, illustrated with twenty-two wood- 

 cuts, which was read before the Birmingham Natural History and 

 Microscopical Society in the early part of last year. It was printed 

 (though 110 mention of this is made on the title-page) in the Midland 

 Naturalist for 1893, and now appears as a separate publication. 

 It comprises forty-five species of lichens, five varieties, and ten 

 forms, named aud classified in accordance with the 3rd edition of 

 Leighton's Lichen-Flora. The author has evidently taken great 

 pains with his work, and has made a careful microscopic exami- 

 nation of his specimens. Moreover, he has added descriptions in 

 popular language, and introduced several figures of spores and other 

 minute structures. He expresses a hope that this preliminary list 

 may awaken an interest in the lichen -flora of the Isle of Man, and 

 that in time a complete list may be forthcoming. So excellent a 

 beginning undoubtedly merits a successful conclusion. ^. q_ 



Practical Photo -Micrography. By Andrew Pringle, F.E.M.S. 



London : Iliffe & Son. Pp. 160 ; figg. 29. Price 5s. 

 Mr. Pringle has long been recognised by the photographic 

 world as one of its greatest authorities. Some few years ago he 

 began to turn his attention to the application of photography to 

 the microscope, and by his untiring industry and scientific acuteness 

 was soon able to introduce many valuable improvements into the 

 methods of photo-micrographic research, and to bring it to a high 

 pitch of excellence. Thereupon he embodied his experiences and 

 views in the form of a -book, and finding it to meet with great 

 success, he determined to issue a cheaper and more popular manual, 

 combining a maximum of the practical with as little of the theoretical 

 as was possible — a guide, in fact, for the inexperienced. This is the 

 book of which the title is given above. No date is mentioned on the 

 title-page, but the preface is dated " November, 1893." Well printed 

 and illustrated, concisely and clearly written, the book is admirably 

 fitted for its purpose. Chapters I.-X. deal with the microscopic 

 side of the question — apparatus, illumination, colour treatment, &c. 

 Then follow the purely photographic processes — exposure, develop- 

 ment, printing, &c. Not a step of the whole procedure is omitted; 

 indeed, alternative methods are offered in nearly every case — all 

 bearing the unmistakable touch of the master's hand. Chapter 

 XVII. describes the cutting of sections by the microtome, and the 

 staining of preparations to obtain the best results. The only fault 

 that can be found with the book is one for which the author is not 

 responsible. Pages 2, 4, 6, and 8, which ought to be blank, are 

 covered with garish advertisements— most offensive eyesores. 



A, G. 



