304 
Review. 
a simple matter to obtain self-fertilised seeds of the putative hybrids. 
These seeds should he sown with a view of ascertaining whether or 
not the parental characters segregate in some Mendelian manner, 
since, if they do, the existence of hybrids in the genus would be 
established. It should, ot course, he remembered, that the starting 
point would almost certainly not he an F, plant, hut a segregate 
whose precise parentage is unknown. If Mrs. Gregory’s work on 
British violets leads to some such experimental work it will not 
have been labour in vain. 
There are one or two matters in connection with the book 
with regard to which we confess to a little disappointment. The 
geographical distribution of the species and varieties outside the 
British Isles is not given; and even their British distribution is 
given inadequately. Again there are neither diagnoses of the sub¬ 
generic divisions nor artificial keys to the species ; and hence it 
is difficult to make full use of Mrs. Gregory’s careful descriptions of 
the species and lower forms. V . sylvestris var. punctata (p. 39) 
cannot be a “ comb, nov.” if it is correctly attributed to Druce in 
Hayward’s Bot. Pocket Book : in any case, however, this varietal 
name is probably incorrect. 
Apart, however, from these minor blemishes, the book is 
without doubt a real contribution to science; and Mrs. Gregory 
may be heartily and sincerely congratulated on the general result. 
The book contains illustrations of most of the species and of several 
of the lower forms. The printing is very good; and the general 
appearance of the book is very clean and neat: a word of praise is 
therefore due to Messrs. Heffer, the printers and publishers. 
Mr. Druce's introduction gives a useful synopsis of the history 
of the study of British violets from the 16th century to the present 
time. 
Perhaps it may be well to explain that “violets” are the 
members of the section Noinininm of the genus Viola, and that 
“ pansies ” (such as Viola tricolor and V. lutea), which belong to the 
section Grammionium, are not dealt with in the book. 
C. E. M. 
