Freaks and Marvels of Plant Life, By M. C. Cooke.
(Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)—Dr. Cooke describes, in twenty interesting chapters, a very large number of the curiosities of vege- tation. Leaf-traps for insects, clinging tendrils, explosive fruits, sensitive and sleeping leaves, hygroscopic plants, vegetable mimicry, and mystic and historic flowers are discussed in this attractive volume. Its pages are liberally adorned with woodcuts, clear, characteristic, and exact. The most recent researches of physiologists and botanical explorers are included in the condensed accounts of vegetable phe- nomena and processes which the author has drawn up, but the lan- guage employed is free from all unnecessary technicalities, and needs no special training for its comprehension. Enough, but not too much, detail of experiment, observation, and argument is here given; the results of twenty volumes are condensed into some 450 pages. Students will have the satisfaction of finding numerous references to the original memoirs and authorities which Dr. Cooke has consulted for his facts. The author is, moreover, an accomplished botanical observer, who has himself made no small number of additions to the facts which he describes ; and he has weighed carefully the evidence which has been adduced to explain the vegetable phenomena hero recorded. We can give no adequate notion of the value or interest of this volume by a brief notice or by further reference to the table of contents; we can but commend the book to all our readers who desire to know something about the secret workings and conspicuous wonders of the world of plants.
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