290 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Adenostyles on plate xvii. The crowding together produces in 

 most of the plates an unpleasing effect ; and one wonders to what 

 purpose there is so much waste of space. This is the more un- 

 fortunate because it is clear that Mr. Flemwell can draw : the 

 Centaureas on plate xxii are excellent, as are the Phyteumas on 

 plate iv. 



M. Robert's illustrations of M. Correvon's book, on the other 

 hand, are its most important feature, and indeed form the first 

 half of the volume. They may not, especially at first sight, appeal 

 to every one, for they are curiously Japanese in feeling — an effect 

 due, in some measure, to the coloured background employed for 

 each. The stiff almost rigid decorative treatment is in violent 

 contrast with Mr. Flemwell's weak renderings ; the colouring, too, 

 although in the main accurate, leaves a curious impression, and 

 the filling up of the whole space with the figure of the plant, 

 which is noticeable in many instances, adds to the strangeness of 

 the effect. All the same, these figures are on the whole extremely 

 accurate, both in colour and in outline, and in them lies the chief 

 interest of the book. The descriptive portion, though quite 

 useful, is by no means as satisfactory as that of Mr. Thompson's 

 volume ; and the little scraps of French verse seem curiously out 

 of place when the text is in English. There is an interesting 

 general introduction, and the preface to this edition has some 

 useful information about rock gardens. 



In the absence of any date from the titlepage the English 

 edition follows the example of the French original, which appeared 

 in 1909 ; curiously enough, the translation is the cheaper book, as 

 the original cost 25 francs. The titlepage is, as is usual with 

 Messrs. Methuen's books, made hideous by a blue rubber-stamp — 

 a form of decoration which we are glad to see Messrs. Routledge 

 do not employ. 



Fungoid Diseases of Agricultural Plants. By Jakob Eriksson, 



Fil.Dr. Translated from the Swedish by Anna Molander. 



London : BaiUiere. 1912. Demy 8vo, pp. xii, 208. 117 figs. 



(3 coloured). Price 7s. 6c?. net. 



Eriksson's book on the plant diseases caused by parasitic fungi 



was primarily intended to aid the Swedish cultivator in his fight 



against these troublesome organisms. In its translated form it is 



now offered to the British student of agriculture, and will be found 



to be equally serviceable in this country. There is no disease 



recorded within its pages that is not a danger to crops all over 



Northern Europe ; for the parasite invariably follows the host and 



often indeed gains new vigour with new conditions of climate or 



locality. 



There is a widespread opinion that fungoid diseases are 

 increasing, and though much of the supposed increase may be 

 accounted for by the advance in knowledge in scientific diagnosis 

 of the disease, yet some of the new records, Eriksson thinks, are 

 owing to the production of new varieties of host-plants which 

 possess certain characteristics that may render them more liable 



