EARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



4i 



opposed to those we have been considering, which 

 maybe called differentiating divisions. In the former 

 case we have no differentiation or simplification of the 

 idioplasm, but only simple division. 



This luminous conception of Professor Weismann's 

 enables us to understand, much more clearly than has 

 hitherto been possible, the nature of ontogenetic 

 development and its control by the cell nuclei. It 

 is certainly a much more satisfactory conception 

 than that of the successive giving off during the pro- 

 cess of development of the preformed gemmules of 

 structure corresponding to different parts of the body. 

 For, if we admit that we must look to the nucleus for 

 the actual germ-substance (taken in its widest sense), 

 the conception of separate gemmules becomes 

 meaningless as well as unnecessary. 



There can be no doubt that the hypothesis of the 

 controlling idioplasm gradually being differentiated 

 as the tissue development proceeds, is much more in 

 accordance with what is known of the facts of nuclear 

 and cell division. 



On the other hand, it must be admitted that the 

 gemmules of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Galton are easier 

 to manipulate and enable us to explain certain 

 special problems of heredity more easily. But I must 

 reserve a consideration of this point, and an attempt 

 to explain some of these problems on Professor 

 Weismann's lines, for my next article. 



{To be continued.) 



A 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



NY book by Dr. M. C. Cooke, on any group of 

 fungi, is sure to be welcomed by botanists. 



tinguish Tliem and How to Cook Them (London : 

 Kegan Paul & Co.), appeals to a wider class of 

 readers. Our fields and meadows are full of good 

 things, but nobody, dare eat them. We are in the 

 position of the man who resolved never to go into 

 the water until he had learned to swim. It is a real 

 pity that our ignorance should have built up such a 

 strong wall of prejudice against all but two or three 

 kinds of fungus, which latter we have apotheosised 

 under the name of "Mushrooms." All the rest, 

 scores in numbers, are damned under the term of 

 " Toadstools." Dr. Cooke is a bold man, and a 

 good gastronome. He has cooked most of our 

 British funguses, and likes most of them. In this 

 beautifully and artistically got-up work, he tells us 

 how to recognise the "good kinds" unmistakably 

 from the "bad" ones. Moreover, he tells us — in lan- 

 guage that is appetising — how to cook them ! Many 

 people willing to try the experiment of cooking them 

 are in the position the Irishman said the dog was 

 that stole his pennyworth of liver — " the beggar 

 after all had not got the resate." Dr. Cooke is a 

 delightful, not to say a rollickingly delightful, author, 



and he is at his best in this useful book. It contains 

 thirty-five chapters, on everything connected with 

 British fungi and their culination, and is illustrated 

 by about thirty exquisitely coloured figures of the com- 

 monest and best-eating of our British species. The 

 man who would make a mistake in mis-identifying a 

 fungus with this book in his hand puts himself out- 

 side the pale of argument. Even if the reader do 

 not enjoy the new kinds of fungus herein described, 

 he cannot fail to enjoy reading the book which 

 describes them. 



Delagoa Bay, its Natives and Natural History, by 

 Rose Monteiro (London : G. Philip & Son). Mrs. 

 Monteiro remained in the country her husband had 

 been such a successful collector in, after his death, 

 and she appears to have carried on his work. She is 

 a brave, self-possessed little woman, with a keen eye 

 for humorous situations, «and well capable of taking 

 care of herself even among the roughest and rudest of 

 Kaffirs and settlers. Her book is adorned with 

 charming chapter-headings, of flowers and insects, 

 artistically if sketchily combined. It is further 

 adorned by well got-up plates. But the interest of 

 the book is its natural, graceful, and unpretending 

 narrative of an entomologist's life in Portuguese 

 South Africa. Everybody who gets the chance 

 should not fail to read this very pleasing little book. 



The Story of the Hills, by the Rev. H. N. Hutchin- 

 son (London : Seeley & Co.). The success which 

 attended the publication of Mr. Hutchinson's first 

 book on geology has very properly led to the appear- 

 ance of the present vol., for which we predict an 

 equal if not a greater success. The author is a man 

 of wide geological and physiographical reading, pos- 

 sessed of the gift of clearly interpreting the writers he 

 reads, and of reproducing their facts and conclusions 

 in easily understood and even attractive language. 

 The illustrations, sixteen in number, are highly 

 artistic, and much embellish the book, which contains 

 ten chapters, and runs to 350 pages. The last chapter 

 on "The Ages of Mountains," is one of the best. 

 That on "Mountain Plants and Animals" is hardly 

 less interesting. We cordially commend this book. 



The Field Club : A Magazine of General Natural 

 History, edited by the Rev. Theodore Wood (Lon- 

 don : Elliot Stock), Vol. ii. Many of our readers 

 will be acquainted with Mr. Wood's highly interest- 

 ing little magazine, devoted almost entirely to natural 

 history. We can only say that in its annual volume 

 form it makes an attractive work of reference, as far 

 as it goes. Most of its contributors are not unknown 

 in the pages of Science-Gossip. 



British Tungi. Phycomycetes and Ustilagineiz, by 

 George Massee (London : L. Reeve & Co.). 'Mr. 

 Massee is an old contributor to Science-Gossip, and 

 most of our readers are acquainted with the careful 

 and accurate, not to mention the artistic, finish of his 

 illustrations, as well* as his conscientious statement of 

 facts. The present well got-up volume fully sustains 



