BOOK NOTICES 127 



the various Orders have been undertaken, among others, by the 

 following well-known specialists : Messrs. A. A. Dalglish, Wm. 

 Evans, Anderson Fergusson, Percy H. Grimshaw, J. J. F. X. King, 

 Malcolm Laurie, Thomas Scott, etc. 



The volume is accompanied by a most excellent large scale 

 Bathy-Orographical map of the Clyde area, and is a work which 

 ought to be in the possession of every one interested in the natural 

 history of Scotland, indeed of the British Isles. 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF BRITISH SERPENTS AND THEIR LOCAL 

 DISTRIBUTION IN THE BRITISH ISLES. By Gerald R. Leighton, 

 M.D. (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1901.) 



This neat little volume is devoted to a full and particular account 

 of the life-histories of the three species of snakes found within the 

 British Islands. Herein not only does Dr. Leighton record his own 

 wide experiences as one who has made a special study of British 

 Serpents, but he has ransacked the voluminous literature in search 

 of the interesting and varied information concerning them ; and thus 

 we find in his book stores of knowledge not garnered elsewhere. 

 The author, too, has been careful to indicate a number of important 

 points on which further investigations are necessary. 



On the question as to whether Adders swallow their young, we 

 are distinctly disappointed to find that Dr. Leighton is content to 

 sit upon the fence. We should certainly have expected him to have 

 taken up a more robust attitude. It is not a mere question of 

 deciding between conflicting evidence. Have we not evidence equally 

 good in favour of living toads and frogs having been found enclosed 

 in solid rock? Yet no one with scientific training believes in 

 the reliability of such evidence. We strongly advise all who are 

 credulous on these points to read Dr. Traquair's criticisms contained 

 in a paper entitled " Popular Delusions in Natural History " (" Trans. 

 Edinburgh Field Nat. Club," iii.), wherein, in our opinion, these 

 traditional beliefs are most effectually disposed of. 



The second portion of the book is devoted to the details of 

 geographical distribution of the species throughout the counties of 

 Britain ; but the author does not appear to have seen any of the 

 series of the " Vertebrate Faunas " devoted to the Scottish areas. 



The book is nicely illustrated, is well written, and worthy of the 

 attention of Scottish naturalists. 



INSECT LIFE : SOUVENIRS OF A NATURALIST. By J.-H. Fabre. 

 Translated from the French by the Author of "Mademoiselle Mori." 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., 1901.) 



This little book is, in our opinion, one of the most charming ac- 

 counts of the habits of insects ever published in the English language. 

 The " Souvenirs Entomologiques," of which seven series have 

 appeared, are well known in their original garb to the working 



