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JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



do much to stimulate interest in the forms of our native ferns, and 

 awaken some to a knowledge of what can be done towards a study 

 of variation within the comparatively narrow bounds of a country like 

 our own. Fern varieties have long had many devotees but none 

 more enthusiastic than the author, and none more eager to make 

 converts. 



"The Study of Plant Life." By M. C. Stopes, D.Sc. Ed. 2. 

 8vo., X. + 202 pp. (Blackie, London, 1910.) 3s. 6d. 



Another elementary botany book, but a good one. The authoress 

 starts with a simple series of experiments on the principal activities 

 of plants, deals with the main morphological characters of British 

 plants, and then proceeds to study special groups and to map areas. 

 The whole forms an admirable introduction to elementary botany, but 

 in another edition one or two of the expe,riments suggested might well 

 be revised, after subjecting them to that scientific scrutiny that is 

 desirable, even when " simple " experiments are in question. 



Open-air Studies in Botany, or Sketches of British Wild-flowers 

 in their Homes." By E. L. Praeger. Illustrated by drawings from 

 Nature by S. Eosamond Praeger, and photographs from Nature by 

 E. Welch. Ed. 2. 266 pp. (Griffin, London, 1910.) 6s. net. 



This is a charming book, and just what is needed for a young 

 enthusiast who begins to understand what " Ecology " or the " Study 

 of Plants at Home " really means, and not only botany in the old 

 sense of knowing the names and classification of plants. We are taken 

 over A daisy-starred pasture; By the river; A Gonnemara bog (which, 

 however, is not British, but we can well excuse it) ; Where the samphire, 

 grows; Among the corn; In the home of the Alpines, &c. There is 

 much more than an enumeration of the plants to be found in these 

 localities, for details about their life histories are given, including such 

 interesting matters as fertilization, insectivorous features, geographical 

 distribution, &c. To the beginner the study of botany on the old lines 

 is always necessary, and he will find in this book very many names, 

 so that he should be accompanied with a " flora," such as *' John's 

 Flowers of the Field, ' ' in order to see where their place is in classifica- 

 tion. The two together will render botany far more enjoyable than 

 merely collecting plants and recording their names. 



" The Oak: Its Natural History, Antiquity and Folk-lore." By 

 Gharles Mosley. 8vo. 126 pp. (Elliot Stock, London, 1910.) 5s. 

 net. 



This is a thoroughly readable little book, one of those to the perusal 

 of which we can in a spare moment return with a more than ordinary 

 amount of pleasure. The natural history, antiquity, and folk-lore of 

 the " Monarch of the forest " have never before appeared in book form, 

 and the author is to be congratulated on having done his work well 

 and given us in a little over one hundred pages everything that is worth 



