Feb., 1891. 
REVIEWS. 
45 
Roots: Movement of Water in Plants, Transpiration; (3) Assimila¬ 
tion ; (4) Respiration of Plants: Absorption of Gases ; (5) Growth of 
Plants ; (6) the Irritability of Growing and other Motile Organs; (7) 
Influence of Light and Heat on the Various Functions of Plants. 
Part IV., “ Morphology and Physiology of Flowers,” treats of (1) 
the Inflorescence; (2) the Flower; (3) Fertilization: Fruit and 
Seed. The whole of this part is clearly written and very fully illus¬ 
trated with well-drawn and well-chosen figures. 
Part V., “ Classification and Description of Plants.” (1) Classifica¬ 
tion of Plants ; (2) Natural Orders: a very instructive chapter, with 
very helpful illustrations ; (3) Description of Plants. In this, excel¬ 
lent advice is given as to the way in which the student should proceed 
in describing a plant, followed by five well drawn up descriptions of 
plants readily obtained. 
After this follows the syllabus of the Science and Art Department 
for Botany, with the various examination papers for the last ten years, 
1881 to 1890. The work closes with a very full and useful index, con¬ 
taining nearly 800 references. 
I have only to add, in conclusion, that the author may be con¬ 
gratulated upon having produced a book that will be a great help to 
many a hard worked student, and will, I both hope and anticipate, be 
the means of instilling a love for botanical science in the hearts of 
many of the rising generation. 
J. E. Bagnall. 
The Darwinian Theory of the Oi'igm of Species. By Francis P. 
Pascoe, F.L.S.—London: Gurney and Jackson. 
The author of this little book (who is an ex-president of the Entomo¬ 
logical Society), while by no means an opponent of the theory of the 
evolution of organised beings, disbelieves that the principal method of 
evolution was natural selection as advocated so strongly, and, for the 
time at least, so successfully, by Charles Darwin. Mr. Pascoe’s object 
is to bring the theory of the origin of species by natural selection “ face 
to face with facts,” and “ to test how far it is competent to give even a 
plausible explanation of the endless peculiarities of the organic world.” 
This he seeks to achieve by presenting to the reader the principal 
instances of biological phenomena and animal structures which cannot 
readily be explained by the theory. Interspersed throughout the pages 
of the book are criticisms on natural selection drawn from the writings 
of various eminent naturalists who were or are opposed to the theory 
as expounded by Darwin. These criticisms are generally quoted with¬ 
out reference to the context or to the later views of the author; they, 
therefore, tend to be somewhat misleading. 
Mr. Pascoe does not attempt to develop the subject systematically, 
his various instances of difficulty being cast together in rather a 
haphazard way ; nor does he draw any general conclusions, but leaves 
the reader to decide for himself on the question. Thus this work does 
