289 

 REVIEWS. 



SUB-ALPINES AND AlPINES. 



Stib-aljnne Plants : or Flowers of the Siuiss Woods and Meadoius. 

 By H. Stuart Thompson, F.L.S. With 33 coloured plates 

 (168 figures) by George Flemwell. 8vo, cloth. Pp. xv. 

 325. London : Routledgo. 1912. Price 7s. 6^/. net. 

 The Aljnne Flora. By Henry Correvon and Philippe Robert. 

 Translated into English and enlarged, under the author's 

 sanction, by E. W. Clayforth : with 180 reproductions of 

 Studies in Water-colours. 8vo, cloth. Pp. 436. London : 

 Methuen [no date] . Price 16s. net. 

 Last year we noticed with approval Mr. H. S. Thompson's 

 volume upon alpine plants : we now receive from the same 

 publisher a companion volume, similar in size and price, in which 

 he treats of the flowers of the Swiss woods and meadows to 

 which the term " alpine " cannot rightly be applied. 



There was we think distinctly room for a book of this kind. 

 The average visitor to Switzerland does not frequent strictly 

 alpine regions, but the plants which attract his notice are for the 

 most part those at an elevation which is sufficiently high to 

 yield a new and striking flora. For such a one, if possessed at 

 the outset with a fair smattering of botanical knowledge, Mr. 

 Thompson's book will be invaluable : his descriptions are clear 

 and full, and as far as possible avoid technicalities and unusual 

 terms, while he provides a useful glossary of words which are un- 

 familiar to the ordinary reader. Whether something in the direc- 

 tion of the keys which Gremli employs so successfully would not 

 have been a help to the user of the book may perhaps be questioned ; 

 we are inclined to think that they might have been given, at least 

 for the genera, and perhaps the more distinctive characters of 

 each species might have been italicized. But those who are 

 willing to take a reasonable and by no means excessive amount of 

 trouble will find Mr. Thompson's book all that they require. He 

 has taken much pains with the distribution of each species, 

 which is carefully given, and he gives the altitude for each; 

 the fact that he has himself been an extensive traveller and 

 collector in the regions described gives to his observations a value 

 which is absent from mere compilations. The introductory 

 chapters on growing, collecting, and preserving are also based on 

 personal experience ; and the account of the more important 

 alpine gardens is interesting. 



We wish we could speak as favourably of the plates as we have 

 been able to do of the letterpress. Mr. Thompson himself is 

 satisfied with them, but we are unable to share his satisfaction. 

 The specimens drawn are for the most part fragments thrown 

 together in a heap in the middle of the plate, grouped apparently 

 at haphazard but really, we suppose, owing to the exigencies of 

 colour-printing : many are exceedingly weak — note the filiform 

 peduncles of Bosa alpina on plate xii — and the colouring, although 

 on the whole good, at times leaves something to be desired — e. g. 



