REVIEWS 



Downs and Dunes : Their plant life and its environment. Sir Edward Salisbury, C.B.E., LL.D., V.P.R.S. 



Pp. xiii + 328, 100 text figures, 32 plates. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London, 1952 ; £2 5s. 



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The association of accounts of the vegetation of chalk downs and of sand dunes within the covers of a 

 single volume has a great deal to commend it. The two types of habitat have important features in common, 

 and contrast and comparison of their floras and ecological conditions offer scope for interesting conclusions. 

 Sir Edward Salisbury's choice of subject is thus a happy one ; there is plenty of room for a book combining 

 the two topics. 



Downs and Dunes is, in effect, two books. The first deals with chalk and limestone areas, and the second, 

 of equal length, is an account of coastal dunes. The two are treated quite independently but treatment in 

 both includes discussion of various ecological aspects, biological notes on, and phyto-geographical relation- 

 ships of, the species represented, and brief notes on the animal life. The writer has had long experience 

 in lecturing on his two subjects and many of those who have heard his lectures will be glad to have the subject 

 matter and illustrations available in book form. 



The book is most expensively produced, and it is a pity that some of the statements about distribution 

 and habitats, and certain of the maps, need modification, and that there are a number of misprints. The 

 illustrations and diagrams are lavish and most carefully reproduced. All but six are the work of the author 

 and must evoke lively admiration of his versatility. Those of root systems and seedlings are particularly 

 valuable and the 74 photographs include some of a very high standard. 



J. E. LOUSLEY 



Studies on British Beechwooh. J. M. B. Brown, B.Sc. Forestry Commission Bulletin No. 20, London. 

 Her Majesty's Stationery Office ; 12/6. 



This bulletin contains a great deal of valuable information which will interest not only foresters but 

 also ecologists. Mr. Brown has made a wide survey of British Beech woods during the last ten years and there- 

 fore has obtained at first hand a knowledge of the community as it exists in these islands in planted and in 

 semi-natural state. It is of great value that an account which considers the effects of forest management 

 on these woodlands should be available, for there is, perhaps, a tendency amongst ecologists of an academic 

 sort to omit to consider adequately the effects of man even on British communities. The survey of some two 

 liundred woodlands and the collection of information on the performance of the beech with respect to 

 climate, soil, site and associated plants would alone be of great interest. In this bulletin the author has been 

 enabled to consider much of the relevant literature on the beech together with a first-hand field knowledge 

 to give a balanced account of the beech in these islands. 



The appendices included in the Bulletin summarise in shorthand form the information gained by the field 

 work and to many ecologists and foresters these will be of first-class value. Some parts of the account, especially 

 those on the borders of the subject, which are unlikely to be in the forefront of interest to ecologists and 

 foresters, are somewhat lightly passed over - for example the history of the beech as a native tree and the 

 physiological work. Such omissions do not detract from a bulletin of this kind and this one is, for its size, 

 •excellent. It is well illustrated by fine and in some instances very artistic photographs. 



J. L. Harley 



Key to the Names of British Plants. R. D. Macleod. 8vo., pp. ix + 94. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons 

 Ltd.. 1952 ; 12/6. 



This book is largely a careful compilation from previous works deahng with the derivation and meaning 

 -of the scientific and popular names of British Flowering Plants and Ferns and is intended not for botanists 

 but for the use of flower-lovers who have little or no knowledge of Greek or Latin. The author's botanical 

 horizon is sufficiently indicated by his statement on page 1 that " as regards scientific names, Bentham & 

 Hooker's list is certainly the most authoritative one available." 



The main body of the book consists of three lists, the first of which includes the explanation and deriva- 

 tion of the generic names and of those scientific " names " (i.e. epithets) which are nouns in apposition 

 to their generic name and are commonly spelt with a capital initial letter. The second list comprises the 

 remaining scientific " names " and the third the common names followed by their scientific equivalents. 



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