Reviews and Book Notices. 



'The Classification of Flowering Plants.' By A. B. Rendle^ 

 M.A., D.Sc. Vol. I. Qymnosperms and Monocotyledons. Demy 

 8vo. , pp. xiv. +332. I OS. 6d. University Press, Cambridg"e. 



Students of Botany who have been using- Coulter and Chamberlain s 

 ' Morpholog-y of Ang-iosperms ' will have felt keenly the need of a reliable 

 work dealing- in more detail with the classification of these plants. Such 

 is now available in this volume by Dr. Rendle. Few botanists in this 

 country were so well fitted for the task, and he has accomplished it with great 

 skill and sound judg-ment. The system adopted is that of Engler's ' Syllabus 

 der Pflanzenfamilien,' and there is a short historical introduction in which the 

 systems of the older bot<inists are outlined in an able and interesting manner. 

 With each order the more important structural and biological features are 

 given, and the concluding chapter is a general review of the Monocotyledons, 

 in which the affinities of the groups are considered. We wish these features 

 of the work had been more fully treated. It is a pity the ' means available 

 did not allow of the preparation ' of better figures ; in this respect the book 

 compares unfavourably with the American work. We shall look forward 

 with eagerness for Volume II., which will deal with the Dicotyledons. 



' A Manual and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns.' 

 By J. C. Willis, M. A., Second Edition, Crown 8vo., pp. xii, +670. los. 6d. 

 University Press, Cambridge. 



The first edition of this valuable manual was in two volumes, which the 

 author thinks was a mistake, and now a second edition appears in one 

 volume. Part I. has been shortened by the omission of controversial 

 matter, and the use of small type for paragraphs of descriptive terms and 

 other articles not intended for consecutive reading. In this way the volume 

 is brought down to a handy size, still many who have been regularly using 

 Part II. of the first edition will not find the present volume quite so con- 

 venient for the pocket. A large mass of new material has been added to 

 Part I., while Part II. has been revised and considerable portions rewritten. 

 The concise manner in which the book is written, together with a great 

 deal of cross reference, has enabled the author to bring together an amount 

 of material which renders the work a veritable encyclopedia. It is indis- 

 pensable to all botanists, as no work in existence contains within so small 

 a compass such a larg-e number of important and reliable facts. 







'A Holiday with Nature' is the title of a short paper by the Rev. T. 

 Ainsworth Brode in ' Nature Study ' for May. It principally deals with the 

 botanical aspect of Acklam in July. In the same journal the Toothwort is 

 recorded for High Hoyland (South-west Yorkshire). 



The ' Eighth Quarterly Record of Additions to the Hull Museum ' 

 (Publication No. 19, one penny) has been published. It is principally 

 devoted to descriptions and illustrations of antiquities, but of interest to 

 our readers are ' Geological Discovery at Bridlington ' and ' Some Local 

 Newts.' Particulars of the School Children's Essay Competition are 

 given, with specimen essays. 



• 



The 'Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society,' for 1903, 

 just to hand, is exceptionally large and interesting, due to the inclusion of 

 a reprint (with plates) of Dr. Tempest Anderson's paper in the 'Geographical 

 Journal' on 'Recent Volcanic Eruptions in the W^est Indies.' Mr. H. J. 

 Wilkinson contributes Part X. of his ' Catalogue of British Plants in the 

 Herbarium of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society {Eiipatoriuni cajuiabintiiii 

 to Tragopogon porrifolii(s),' which includes several interesting northern 

 county specimens. The Rev. W. C. Hey contributes ' A Description of the 

 Groimd -excavated in laying the water-mains at East and W^est Ayton, near 

 Scarborough. A few additions to the Museum are recorded. 



Naturalist, 



