No. 399.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 239 
îe., untechnically, and at the same time in a genuinely scientific vein. 
While one may not agree at every point with the detail of the text, he 
is struck by the fact that there is here no loose statement and anti- 
quated theory, while rare inexactitudes are to be explained by the 
difficulty of presenting in popular form, which is always quasi-didac- 
tic, matters upon which botanists themselves are not harmonious. 
The tenor of the volume is indicated by the author's purpose to 
present the plant world as an assemblage of living things. This is 
accomplished by presenting the different taxonomic groups morpho- 
logically, by treating generally of structures and functions from an 
adaptational standpoint, and by pointing out the main biological 
facts in plant association. The first two chapters, which are in 
many respects the best, the most suggestive ones in the book, deal 
briefly but in a clear, elementary manner with distribution, zonation 
and migration. Considering its brevity, the question of zonation is 
especially well handled. An objection that might be brought against 
the treatment in certain places (pp. 5, 9, and elsewhere) is that it 
is quite too teleological. The allegorical method of statement is 
certainly the readiest, and, among scientists, it is perhaps as good 
as any. Taken in connection with the appalling literalness of begin- 
ners, it is unsafe, and invariably leads to confusion, if not to error, 
in the consideration of purpose and design. 
Chapters III-XL, constituting much the larger part of the book, 
are concerned with a survey of the groups of plants from the 
slime moulds to the composites. The part dealing with the crypto- 
gams is especially good, noticeably superior to the portion given 
over to the flowering plants. The latter is fluent and readable, but 
the structural standpoint is predominant to the exclusion of many 
matters of interest. The latter fact is probably to be explained by 
the need of keeping the size of the volume within reasonable limits. 
The author is certainly right in placing the consideration of structure 
before that of function and adaptation. Had it been possible, how- 
ever, a modicum of the two would have increased the interest and 
the suggestiveness of this portion. The chapter upon the bacteria 
is a model of its kind. The freshness of the matter, taken with its 
concise thoroughness, will make it the most interesting and instruc- 
tive part of the book, not only to those to whom the work is addressed, 
but to many botanists as wel. In Chapter XX the author has not 
been so fortunate in his treatment of seeds and their production. No 
exception can be taken to the statement, but the exposition will doubt- 
less produce confusion in the subject for those who come to it for the 
