1878.] 
Notices of Books. 
281 
Pollen. By M. P. Edgeworth, F.L.S., F.A.S. Illustrated with 
438 Figures. London: Hardwicke and Bogue. 
This interesting monograph was originally laid before the Lin- 
nasan Society ; circumstances, however, determined the author to 
withdraw the paper, and it now appears in the present altered 
form. The introduction explains the varied forms which pollen 
takes in different plants, and gives the bibliography of the sub- 
ject. This is followed by a list of plants the pollen of which has 
been examined, with references to authors who have made the 
observations ; the species examined by the author are marked with 
an asterisk, and form a considerable part of the catalogue. This 
valuable portion of the work occupies sixty pages. The most 
important part of the book, however, consists of the twenty-four 
plates, containing four hundred and thirty-eight figures, and in 
this, with the explanation, is contained the result of the author’s 
own microscopical observations. Many of the pollens are figured 
as they appear when viewed under different conditions, e.g., dry 
or opaque cbjeCIs or in various fluid media, as water, oil, vine- 
gar, &c. The author has not put his own drawings on the stone, 
but they appear to have been rendered with tolerable fidelity by 
the lithographer. It is to be regretted that so few observers will 
take the small amount of trouble needed to acquire the various 
lithographic processes, and prevent the risk of misinterpretation 
so liable to occur when drawings are copied by those who, how- 
ever skilled they may be in the technicalities of their art, can 
hardly be expeCIed to understand the nature of unfamiliar objeCts. 
The drawings are all to scale (i-5ooth of life size), a matter too 
often negleCIed, and when this is the case detracting from the 
value of otherwise good figures ; for rigid adherence to this prin- 
ciple the author is highly to be commended, as the comparative 
dimensions of any pollen can be readily estimated. 
Mr. Edgeworth’s monograph will prove of great value to the 
student of this department of minute vegetable structure. 
