BOOK NEWS. 



It is to be doubted whether the " newer botany" could have 

 a better interpreter than Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, whose book on 

 44 Elementary Botany"* has just appeared. A place is claimed for 

 the work as a manual for beginners, but it is much more. Every 

 page bristles with facts which it will profit all botanists to know, 

 told in concise and attractive language very different from that of 

 the ordinary text-book. The chief merit of the work, however, 

 is in the arrangement of the matter in such a way that a survey 

 of the whole sphere of plant life is obtained and the relationships 

 of the higher and lower orders distinguished. The first hundred 

 pages deal with plant Physiology, the chapters treating of such 

 topics as irritability, transpiration, respiration, root pressure, 

 nutrition, etc. Then follows Part II, devoted to Morphology, 

 beginning with the lowest forms and proceeding upward through 

 the Algse, fungi, liverworts, mosses and ferns to the higher forms 

 of plants. Part III. is devoted to Ecology. This part will doubt- 

 less be of the most interest to the general botanist. In this are 

 treated at length such subjects as winter buds, leaf arrangement, 

 dimorphism of ferns, formation of early spring flowers, soil 

 formation, plant communities, etc. There are 509 illustrations in 

 the book, most of which were made especially for it. The book 

 is worthy of a place in the library of every botanist. 



Under the title of "Symbolse AntillanaV'f Borntrseger 

 Brothers have brought out the first part of a comprehensive 

 work on the flora of the West Indies, edited by Ignatius Urban. 

 This work will be issued in parts at indefinite intervals — each 

 part composed of from one hundred to two hundred pages. The 

 first fascicle is devoted to the botanical bibliography of the West 

 Indies, the titles of books and articles being given in the lan- 

 guage in which they were originally published, followed by 

 observations of their contents in German. This initial part 

 seems very complete. If subsequent parts are up to this standard, 

 the work when completed, will be invaluable to all students of 

 the West Indian Flora. 



*" Elementary Botany," by George Francis Atkinson, Ph. B. New York; 

 Henry Holt& Co., i8g8. 12-mo., 444 PP-, price $1.25. 



1"Simbolae Antillanae sen Fundamenta Florae Indite Occidentals, " 

 by Ignatius Urban. Vol. I. fascicle I. Berlin; Gebruder Borntrasger, 1898. 

 8-vo, 192 pp., price 10 marks. 



