REVIEWS. 
407 
the second work above-mentioned, namely, the description of the different 
forms of flowers which occur on plants of the same species, with a discus- 
sion of the purpose served in Nature by these curious and sometimes complex 
arrangements. 
The phenomena discussed in this volume have attracted Mr. Darwin’s 
attention for many years, and very soon after the first publication of his 
“■ Origin of Species ” (namely, in 1862) he communicated to the Linnean 
Society his first paper on the subject, which related to the dimorphism of 
the flowers in the genus Primula. Other papers followed on phenomena of 
the same order occurring in the genera Lythrum and IAnum , and these con- 
stitute the foundation of a portion of the present work, in which, however, 
the author has added his own more recent observations upon other plants, 
and supplemented his personal work with information derived from many 
trustworthy sources. The whole constitutes a most interesting record of 
facts and inductions of great scientific importance ; and the popular interest 
of the book is enhanced by the facility with which many of the observations 
may be repeated, so that anyone who has a garden and a magnifying-glass 
may with ease enter upon a course of practical investigation under the best 
possible guidance. 
Mr. Darwin’s first published researches related to certain species of the 
genus Primula , in the cultivated forms of which known as the polyanthus 
Fig. 1. 
The floral envelopes on the near side removed. 
and the auricula florists have long been familiar with two kinds of flowers, 
which they denominate “ pin-eyed ” and “ thrum-eyed.” In the common 
cowslip (P. verts) this difference between the two forms is sufficiently re- 
markable (see Fig. 1.) In the “ pin-eyed ” plants the style is much elongated, 
so as to carry the nearly globular and rough stigma right up into the throat of 
* For the loan of this and the following figures, we are indebted to the 
kindness of Mr. John Murray. 
