REVIEWS. 
91 
Set of British Rubi , Fascicle II., 1892-95. Issued by Revs. E. F. Linton, 
Wm. R. Linton, R. P. Murray, and W. Moyle Rogers. 
An Essay at a Key to British Rubi. By the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, F.L.S., 
Paper Cover, Is. 3d. ; Cloth, 2s. 8vo, pp. 56. West, Newman, and Co. 
The study of the brambles is one of the most fascinating, but at the same 
time a very difficult one, not only for beginners but also to those who 
have given much attention to this group of plants. But with a well- 
authenticated series of specimens and carefully compiled descriptions, many 
of the difficulties are cleared away. The Set of Rubi which form the 
subject of the present notice are to be completed in four fascicles of twenty- 
five specimens in each, and will, when completed, form a most valuable aid 
to a proper understanding of the group. The names of the issuers, all of 
whom have given many years of attentive study to the group, are a sufficient 
guarantee for the correctness of nomenclature, and the value of the series is 
greatly enhanced by the fact that most of the specimens have been 
authenticated by our leaders in this study, Prof. Babington and Dr. Focke. 
The specimens in this Fascicle II. are twenty-five in number, are well 
selected, and truly representative; that is, there is in each case a proper 
supply of barren stem and leaf; flower shoot, &c., and in most cases a good 
example of the fruiting characters ; each specimen is enclosed in a wrapper 
of stout cartridge paper, and has a printed label giving the name now 
accepted, with the leading synonyms, and references to the works in which 
the plant has been noticed; each specimen is numbered, and a reference 
index which accompanies them enables the student readily to turn to his 
plant. Accompanying this fascicle is a most valuable key to British Rubi, 
by the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers. This has been very carefully thought out 
and compiled, and will be a most valuable aid to all students either with or 
without the fascicle. It is handy in size, so that it will be available for use in 
the field ; the descriptions are remarkably free from technicalities, are 
carefully condensed in those cases where full descriptions are to be found in 
Babington’s “British Rubi,” or the “ Manual of British Botany,” but in all new 
plants are given in extenso. The classification adopted is a very natural one, 
and is the result of careful thought and mauy years’ attentive study of these 
plants in their native haunts and as herbarium specimens; and the author 
is to be congratulated on the successful issue of many years of thoughtful 
labour. This may be had from the author, Pine Dene, West Bournemouth. 
J. E. Bagnall. 
Vegetable Wasps and Plant Worms. A Popular History of Entomogenous 
Fungi, by M. C. Cooke. S.P.C.K. 
This book treats of the Fungi infesting insects, concerning which so many 
strange tales have been told by the naturalists of the past. The gueve vegetale, 
or vegetable wasp of Guadaloupe, the New Zealand vegetable caterpillar, the 
West Indian “ Vegetable Fly,” were all supposed by the original discoverers 
to be instances of the actual transformation of an animal into a vegetable, 
and the imagination of some writers enabled them to concoct stories of the 
wasps, for instance, flying about with the vegetable growth depending from 
their bodies, which we can scarcely suppose to have had the slightest founda¬ 
tion in fact. Dr. Cooke’s book describes all the known species of Fungi 
which are parasitic upon insects, according to the insects upon which they 
grow, the whole series of orders of insects that are affected being 
reviewed. Then at the end comes a list of the species of Fungi arranged in 
their systematic order, with the names of their hosts appended. Thus the 
book will meet the wants alike of the entomologist who wishes to find what 
parasites occur on the particular orders of insects he is studying, and of the 
fungologist who is more interested in the parasites themselves. 
The following are the orders mentioned:—Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, 
Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Diptera, to which are 
April, 1893, 
