BOOK REVIEWS. 



127 



trate the text, and many show the plants referred to, growing in their 

 natural haunts. The intention of the book is excellent, and the 

 publishers have done their work well. The statements made, how- 

 ever, are often very vague, or couched in language difficult to under- 

 stand, or even seriously at variance with the facts. Almost every 

 page illustrates one or other of these faults ; some arise from a desire 

 to use non-technical language ; some from a wish to speak familiarly 

 with regard to plants and their ways ; some, we fear, from insufficient 

 acquaintance with present-day botany. One or two examples of 

 these faults will suffice. On p. 6 we read " [In spring] a fresh zone of 

 wood is commenced by addition to the exterior in the Dicotyledons, 

 to the interior in the Monocotyledons." P. 11 : " It is unlikely that 

 they [climbing plants] were at first erect and have adopted the climbing 

 habit. There is the case of the Ground Ivy, which is a trailing plant, 

 and the Climbing Ivy, which clings to trees." The connexion between 

 the two plants is not at all obvious to the reviewer. On p. 43 we are 

 told the Bulbous Crowfoot {i.e. Ranunculus bulbosus) has white or 

 green sheaths to the leaves, whereas those of R. repens are purple, 

 but no one need seek far to find the reverse is also true. On p. 48, 

 " The corolla [of the Marsh Marigold] is golden yeUow; the five sepals 

 are yellow, growing as the petals." 



The author announces two further volumes of the series, and we 

 hope, if he publishes them, he will secure the services of some 

 competent and candid friend to revise the proof-sheets for him. 



" Physiological Plant Anatomy." By Dr. G. Haberlandt. Trans- 

 lated from the 4th German edition by M. Drummond, B.A., F.L.S. 

 8vo., 777 pp. (Macmillan, London, 1914.) 25s. net. 



The title of this book indicates its importance. Older text-books 

 described the anatomical structures of plants, but physiology was 

 treated as a separate matter for discussion, whereas the cells and 

 tissues have to be constructed with distinct physiological purposes. 

 The book contains fourteen chapters. The first two deal with cells 

 and tissues ; the next ten chapters describe the " Systems " — 

 e.g. the dermal, mechanical, absorbing, photosynthetic, conducting, 

 storage, aerating, secretory, motor, sensory, and the stimulus trans- 

 mitting systems ; the concluding chapter deals with secondary growth 

 in stem and roots. 



Each of these subjects is treated exhaustively, including the latest 

 investigations. 



As the whole book, including Notes (fifty pages) and Indexes (fifteen 

 pages), comprises 777 octavo pages, it would be impossible to give a 

 detailed account of each chapter. It is the physiological uses and 

 adaptations of cells and tissues wherein the great value and interest 

 lie ; and no student should fail to study this work till he has mastered 

 it. There is one matter to which we must refer, and that is the 

 author's adoption of Kerner's theory of girders. The vascular bundles 



