BOOKS REVIEWED. 



277 



absence ! Spinescence is merely the result of drought. Camels have 

 developed a mouth which is quite indifferent to thorns. 



Fig. 28, 3 (p. 59), a dicotyledon, should have a companion figure, to 

 illustrate a monocotyledonous root, in which the root-cap has its own 

 formative cells. 



Fig. 50 (p. 115) : i and e should be reversed. 



Fig. Ill (p. 23) ; the arrangement of f kind is all wrong — (2) is placed 

 opposite (1) instead of at a distance of 144° ; (3) is omitted, while (6) 

 stands over (1) ; there should be an intermediate space, as it requires two 

 coils. 



" B evolving movements are characteristic of stems," p. 207. No 

 stems growing in the soil can revolve like a corkscrew, and that is why 

 Darwin called the movement circumnutation or "bowing around." 



"Plant Response as a Means of Physiological Investigations." By 

 J. C. Bose, M.A., D.Sc. With illustrations. 8vo., 781 pp. (Longmans, 

 London.) 21s. 



This important book contains 754 pages of 315 experiments &c, and 

 an index. The following will give the reader some idea of the immense 

 amount of work involved : the classified list of experiments consists of the 

 following "responses : " Differential mechanical, longitudinal mechanical, 

 electric, death, multiple and autonomous, suctional, growth, torsional, 

 uniform, fatigue, polar effects of currents, effect of temperature on 

 excitability and conductivity, effect of chemical agents, geotropism and 

 heliotropism, &c. No analysis can be here attempted ; we can only say 

 it will be profoundly interesting to botanists, but too technical, as a rule, 

 for ordinary readers. 



"Plants and their Ways in South Africa." By Dr. Bertha Stoneman. 

 8vo., 283 pp. (Longmans, London.) 3s. Gd. 



This is an excellent little book, abundantly supplied with illustrations. 

 In the introduction the authoress wisely observes that in a too great 

 attention to microscopic structures " there is a danger of losing that 

 living interest which a wider outlook into the science alone can afford." 

 She also adds the following remark on " Ecology " : " There is yet a third 

 method which considers plants as living things, and the study of their 

 life relations becomes the new standpoint from which they are approached." 

 The book is all on these lines so far as plants of South Africa are con- 

 cerned. It consists of nineteen chapters dealing with plant life, seeds 

 and germination, growth of bush, stems, and leaves, buds and branches ; 

 then follows the physiology of these organs, flowers and their parts, 

 with pollination and fertilisation, fruits and seeds, cod eluding with 

 classification and the botanical regions of South Africa. 



" The Physiology of Plants. A Treatise upon the Metabolism and 

 Sources of Energy in Plants." By Dr. W. Pfeffer. Vol. III. Translated 

 and edited by Dr. J. J. Ewart, 8vo., 451 pp. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) 

 Half-morocco, 21s. net. 



It is impossible to give a detailed account of the mass of matter in 

 this great volume, nor is it perhaps desirable in a Horticultural Journal, 



