HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



'55 



which develop indigo when they die, and thus turn 

 bhie, were killed directly when frozen, and no amount 

 of gradual thawing revived them. The buds of some 

 ligneous plants bore an exposure to a temperature of 

 — 16° to —20° Centigrade, and subsequent thawing 

 at 25° C. (77° Fahr.) without injury. 



All who are able to understand the importance of 

 sound meteorological data, must be gratified with the 

 progress of the Ben Nevis Observatory, placed at an 

 elevation of 4406 feet, only four miles distant from 

 the sea, and in the track of the great storms that 

 come to us from the wide Atlantic. Ordinary 

 observatories tell us the story of local atmospheric 

 currents as written by themselves with the anemo- 

 meter, but the Ben Nevis anemometer is supplying us 

 with autographs of main currents, and just those 

 which most directly affect us. The observations 

 already recorded concerning variations of tempera- 

 ture due to elevation are very curious. The mean 

 difference between Fort William at sea level and the 

 observatory is at the rate of 1° Fahr. for every 270 

 feet of ascent, or 16° '3 for the whole height. The 

 greatest average difference is in May iS^, the 

 smallest in December when it sinks to 14° '9. At 

 times the difference has fallen to nothing, and it has 

 even been higher at the observatory than at 4406 feet 

 lower down. This was the case on December 31, 

 1883, when at 11 a.m. the temperature at Fort 

 William was 27° -5, while that on Ben Nevis was 

 30° 'O. This was accompanied with excessive drj'ness 

 of the air. Relative rainfall, and relative barometric 

 fluctuating are also extremely interesting, and the 

 collations of all these promise to supply us with 

 valuable inductions displaying intelligible law and 

 order in the apparently capricious movement of our 

 proverbially variable climate. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



■ll/TANUAL OF THE MOSSES OF NORTH 

 iVJ. AMERICA, by Leo Lesquereux and 

 Thomas P. James. (Boston : S. E. Cassino & Co.) 

 This excellent work will be warmly welcomed by all 

 botanical students in the United States, and it will 

 1)6 scarcely less acceptable to bryologists in Europe. 

 No two better men could have been selected for the 

 task than the authoi's, and the microscopical analyses 

 of the species by Mr. James are admirably done and 

 artistically depicted. The manual includes descrip- 

 tions of all the mosses known to occur in the United 

 States (about 900 species). Of course a vast number 

 of them are common to this country, and bryologists 

 will be interested in noting varietal differences, &c. 

 The work is supplemented by six plates, exquisitely 

 engraved, which illustrate the genera. 



Synopsis of British Mosses, by Charles P. Hob- 

 kirk, F.L.S. (London : Van Voorst. Second edition.) 



Nearly ten years have elapsed since we first had the 

 pleasure of reviewing Mr. Hobkirk's much-needed 

 work, and we are glad to welcome this second 

 edition. It is much improved and enlarged, and 

 bears a more attractive appearance than its pre- 

 decessor. As the first edition has long l:)een out of 

 print, and copies of it much in demand, this second 

 edition ought to be very successful. 



The Life of the Fields, by Richard Jefferies. (Lon- 

 don : Chatto & Windus.) The publication of every 

 new book by j\Ir. Jefferies confers a fresh pleasure. 

 No man living has a keener eye for all kinds of 

 natural phenomena, or a more catholic sympathy 

 with every living object. Add to this the possession 

 of a felicitously simple style of writing, and a stranger 

 to his books may form some idea of their matter and 

 style. The present volume (like some others) is a 

 collection of papers written for various magazines and 

 journals. One reads some of them, as we should 

 drink^ old wine, slowly, conscious of every word and 

 idea, so as not to allow anything to escape attention. 

 Among such we particularise, " The Pageant 

 of Summer," "Clematis Lane," "January in the 

 Sussex Woods," "Mind under Water," "Field 

 Play," and "Notes on Landscape Painting;" 

 although to specially refer to any appears invidious. 



Swnmer, from the journal of Henry D. Thoreau, 

 edited by H. G. O. Blake. (London : T. Fisher 

 Unwin.) A second volume of selections from the 

 journal of this well-known American writer. It is 

 a very pleasant, thoughtful, peaceful book — just the 

 volume to calm perturbation of spirits, or to be read 

 as an antidote to the chafing and fret of a business 

 life. Thank God for such sweet resting-places ! 

 Thoreau was a kind of Gilbert White, strongly 

 flavoured with Emersonianism. He was not such a 

 keen or accurate observer as the former, nor did he 

 possess such an attractive style of delineation. But 

 his books are particularly pleasant, and none more 

 than his " Summer." 



PethiJid Revisited, by the Rev. J. G. Wood, F.L.S. , 

 &c. (London : Longmans & Co.) This is an attrac- 

 tively got up volume in every way — paper, type, 

 and especially the woodcuts. Mr. Wood has a 

 large range of practical sympathy with animals, and 

 in this book we have a collection of pleasanily-related 

 anecdotes, mostly personal (some of which fairly try 

 one's faith) concerning cats and dogs (but cats 

 especially, for which Mr. Wood owns a fondness 

 which ought to make tliis volume very valuable), 

 chameleons, hedgehogs, coatamundis, monkeys, rab- 

 bits, rats, snakes, &c. &c. Mr. Wood's story- 

 telling powers are well known, and in this book he 

 shows no falling off in either style or spirit. 



The Honey - B ee ; its Nature, Home, and Products, 

 by W. H. Harris, B.Sc. (London : Religious Tract 

 Society.) In spite of the numerous well-written and 

 valuable books already in existence concerning bees 

 and bee-keeping, there was room for another on the 



