IN preparing the second edition of this work, the authors have completely revised the original text and figures and have added two new chapters dealing with Pinus and Angiosperms to meet the requirements of the Pharmaceutical Society's examinations. The material presented is intended to cater for students pursuing courses in biology for the intermediate science, pharmacy, and medical examinations of Great Britain, the higher school certificate, the preliminary medical, and other examinations of a similar standard. The greater part of the book is concerned with minute descriptions of the anatomical mechanisms of the plant and animal types met with in these various examination syllabuses. This is followed by a smaller physiological section, which is chiefly concerned with plants, and a chapter on ecology. The laws of heredity and evolution are summarily treated, while the appendix contains useful practical hints. The book is admirably illustrated with a considerable number of clear diagrams. Inaccuracies of the previous edition have been largely eliminated, although it is a little disconcerting still to read that Pellia “is branched to form many lobes, thus reminding us somewhat of the liver of an animal and giving the plant the name liverwort”. Textbook of Biology By Dr. E. R. Spratt A. V. Spratt. Second edition. Pp. viii + 692. (London: University Tutorial Press, Ltd., 1939.) 11s. 6d.