REVIEWS. 
161 
of the course of "biological instruction given by Professor Huxley to his 
students in his laboratory at South Kensington, and it described the characters 
and methods of investigation of a selection of plants and animals which might 
serve ‘ to exemplify the leading modifications of structure which are met 
with in the vegetable and animal worlds.’ The organisms selected were the 
following : — The Yeast-plant, Protococcus , the Proteus-animalcule (in con- 
nexion with which the phenomena presented by colourless blood-corpuscles 
were noticed), Bacteria, Moulds, Char a, the Bracken Fern, the Bean-plant, 
Bell-animalcules, Hydra , the Freshwater Mussel, the Crayfish and Lobster, 
and the Frog. Of all these types the external structure and life-history were 
indicated, the anatomy and physiology described, and the mode of investigating 
their structure and functions noticed in detail, but the text was not accom- 
panied by any illustrations. This want is to some extent now supplied by 
MM. M'Alpine’s Atlas, which contains a series of coloured plates showing 
the characters and structure of the organisms above cited, and illustrating the 
results of practical work carried out in accordance with the directions given 
in the Elementary Biology. The authors of the Atlas have, however, added 
slightly to the compass of the descriptive work, by the introduction of the 
Horse-chestnut as a second flowering plant, and of the Earthworm and 
Snail as additions to the series of animals illustrated, and these latter augmen- 
tations of the original plan are certainly very judicious. We think that the 
further addition of an air-breathing Arthropod, especially of a representative 
of the Insecta, would have been advantageous. 
The twenty-four plates composing this Atlas contain figures of the 
organisms above referred to and of their organization as displayed by the 
processes of dissection applicable to them. They are printed in colours, the 
colours being used for the purpose of distinguishing the various organs or 
systems of organs. Hence the figures are necessarily diagrammatic, but 
although rough, and not always quite so accurate as they ought to be, they 
may be of considerable service to biological students, especially to those who 
are attempting to gain a knowledge of the structure of organisms by the 
process of self-instruction. We notice one other defect, namely, that in 
many cases the scale of the enlarged figures is not indicated. To is is a point 
of great importance for beginners. 
Each plate is accompanied by a leaf of explanatory letter-press, which 
gives the necessary information as to the significance of the figures. At the 
beginning of the book there are also a flew pages of general directions for 
practical work, indicating the instruments and reagents required for carrying- 
out the course of study illustrated by the plates, and also tlie mode of 
procuring and examining the various organisms referred to. 
BOTANY FOB CHILDREN.* 
E VERY one knows how the late Professor Henslow, in civilizing what 
was said to be, when he took it, one of the roughest parishes in 
* Botany for Children. An illustrated Elementary Text-hook for Junior 
Classes and Young Children. By the Rev. Geojge Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., 
&c. Sm. 8vo. London : E. Stanford, 1880. 
NEW SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. XIV. 
M 
