REVIEWS 257 



REVIEWS. 



SHORT SKETCHES OF THE WILD SPORTS AND NATURAL 

 HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. By Charles St. John. A new 

 edition, with the author's notes, and a memoir by the Rev. M. G. 

 Watkins. (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1893.) 



This, the ninth edition of a most popular and classic work, issued 

 by the world -famed publishing firm of Murray, differs from all the 

 preceding in containing the additional notes of the author, marked 

 " C. St. J." These have been printed word for word from an inter- 

 leaved copy of Jenyns's Manual of British Vertebrate Animals. There 

 are also numerous additional annotations by the Rev. M. G. Watkins, 

 which are all that can be desired in illustrating and explaining the text; 

 and these in themselves display a wide and scholarly knowledge of 

 the subjects dealt with. The preface, and a memoir of St. John by 

 the same writer, give additional interest to the present edition, so 

 also the portrait of St. John which forms the frontispiece ; this is the 

 only portrait that was ever taken of the author, and is now for the 

 first time introduced, and specially possesses a melancholy interest, 

 as it was taken after the time the writer was struck down by the 

 malady which eventually carried him off at the comparatively early age 

 of forty-seven. The volume contains 79 illustrations by Harrison 

 Weir, C. Whymper, and others, exquisitely engraved on wood by J. W. 

 Whymper. It is a long time since we have seen a book so well 

 and beautifully got up, and so highly finished, and doing credit to 

 all who have been engaged in its production. There are some few 

 works in our language treating of wild nature of which we may 

 safely predict that they will never lose their interest with the reading 

 public, and this is one of them. 



ANNALS OF THE ANDERSONIAN NATURALISTS' SOCIETY. Edited 

 by Robert Turner. (Glasgow: Allan and Ferguson, 1893.) 



Naturalists will examine this volume with interest because of the 

 variety of features it presents, and the attractive way in which these 

 are treated. It is the first publication of a society which has been in 

 existence since 1885, and though local and most properly so in 

 its character it is above the usual average of publications of the kind. 

 The aim of the society is avowedly to popularise studies in natural 

 science in Glasgow, and it seems already to have done some good 

 in this way. The volume before us is an earnest of this, and con- 

 tains just the sort of information that field- naturalists desiderate. 

 It deals with botany, zoology, and archaeology, and the information 

 given is both interesting and useful. The writers of the various 

 articles possess a practical knowledge of the subjects they deal with, 

 and seem to take a pleasure in them for their own sake. It would be 

 invidious to single out any of the writers, but it is particularly notice- 



