272 



HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



second part of the pretty brochures written by the 

 late J. G. Wood, and illustrated by Harrison Weir. 

 A more attractive gift book to children of natural 

 history tastes can hardly be imagined. 



Introductory Lessons on Quantitative Analysis, by 

 John Mills and Barker North. 



Machine Construction. (Solutions to the questions 

 set at the May examinations, Scientific and Art 

 Department 1S81 to 1886), by Henry Adams : — 

 Elements of Physiology, by J. H. E. Brock (London : 

 Chapman & Hall). These are a further series of the 

 useful and cheap little handbooks for the South 

 Kensington Examinations we recommended last 

 month. 



The Vertebrate Ani7nah of Leicestershire and 

 Rutland, by Montagu Browne, F.Z.S. (Birmingham : 

 Midland Educational Company.) This is a very im- 

 portant work on county natural history — a subject we 

 are glad to see (thanks to the establishment and multi- 

 plication of provincial societies), is gradually being 

 worked out very accurately and very scientifically. 

 Mr. Montagu Browne is well known as a zoologist. 

 On all matters connected with taxidermy he is an 

 authority. On account of his large and widely 

 extended knowledge, he is eminently entitled to the 

 designation of "naturalist." The admirably ar- 

 ranged museum at Leicester, which is under his 

 curatorship, convinces every visitor that its chief is 

 an all-round and enthusiastic naturalist. In the 

 present volume Mr. Browne has availed himself of 

 the numerous contributions to the natural history of 

 the above two counties, among whose authors we find 

 the names of Mott, Professor Babington Macaulay, 

 and others. The author has been very generous in his 

 acknowledgment of indebtedness to all local naturalists 

 whose papers and contributions have helped to make 

 the present work so valuable. The volume before us 

 is attractively and beautifully bound ; printed on good 

 paper ; and its artistic merits are increased by four 

 full-page chromo-lithograph plates. Although the 

 mammals are dealt with, recent as well as extinct, 

 the greater part of the book is naturally occupied by 

 birds. The reptiles and fishes come in for lengthy 

 notices ; and among the latter the fossil fishes of the 

 Lias formation, for which Leicestershire has been so 

 long famous, and specimens of which have been 

 distributed to perhaps every museum in Great Britain 

 — come in for very useful notices. Mr. Montagu 

 Browne's monograph is an undoubted acquisition to 

 the natural history of our time. 



The Birds of Oxfordshire, by O. V. Aplin (Oxford : 

 Clarendon Press). This is another valuable contribu- 

 tion to local zoology. Mr. Aplin is well known as 

 an accurate and painstaking ornithologist. Hitherto 

 no work upon the birds of Oxfordshire has been 

 published. The ornithology of the central parts of 

 England farthest removed from the sea-shores has an 

 interest peculiarly its own, and no county in this 

 respect can lay claim to greater attractiveness than 



Oxfordshire, on account of its undisturbed sylvan 

 characters. Mr. Aplin has been engaged upon this 

 work for some years past, and he has produced a 

 monograph which cannot fail to possess a high 

 interest to ornithologists generally. There is an 

 admirably written introduction, which has enabled 

 the author to review the very large number of papers 

 relating to the natural history of the county and to 

 acknowledge his indebtedness to them. The glossary 

 of local names of birds will prove very useful ; and 

 there is a good index. The printing, illustrations, 

 and general get-up of the volume are worthy of the 

 Clarendon Press, from which it is issued. It also 

 includes a good map of Oxfordshire. 



Wayside Sketches, by F.E. Hulme, F.L.S., F.S.A. 

 (London : S.P.C.K.) Mr.Hulme is well known as a 

 naturalist who has studied nature from the artistic 

 side, and thischarming little book, excellently printed, 

 with its numerous illustrations, sustains his high cha- 

 racter in the particular department of research he has 

 devoted himself to. It deals with the multitudinous 

 objects to be seen by eyes on the look-out for them in 

 our daily country-side walks, such as branches, leaf- 

 buds, leaves, wild flowers, plant-drawing, butterflies, 

 moths, beetles, wasps, spiders and their webs, water- 

 plants, common flowering plants and their folk-lore, 

 fungi, wild fruits, &c., &c. One of the chief charms 

 of the book is the admirable series of woodcuts, which 

 are microscopically correct in every detail, without 

 the sacrifice of a single artistic effect. 



The Life of John Davis, by Clements R. Markham 

 (London : Geo. Philip and Son). Among all the 

 literary ventures of the day there is none likely to be 

 of such intrinsic value and importance as the series 

 which Messrs. Philip are issuing, and of which this 

 volume is the first instalment, under the title of 

 " The World's Great Explorers and Explorations." 

 The series will form a library of intense historic and 

 geographical interest, as well as of fervid patriotic 

 stimulation. The present volume has been very 

 properly put in the hands of Mr. Clements R. 

 Markham, who is himself both a well-known writer 

 and distinguished explorer. This life of John Davis 

 the navigator reels off as delightfully as one of 

 Mr. W. Clark Russell's modern sea novels. 



An Introduction to Chemical Science, by R. P. 

 Williams and B. P. Lascelles (London : Ginn and 

 Co.). Of the writing of the books on chemistry there 

 has of late years been no end. This addition to the 

 literature of the subject is practically a revision of 

 Mr. Williams's work published some years ago in the 

 United States. The matter is very lucidly set forth, 

 and the arrangement of the subjects is admirable. 



The Eighteenth Annual Report of the Chester 

 Society of Natural Science and Literature shows that 

 the society is in a very flourishing condition, and the 

 lists of donations to the Museum and Library prove 

 the generosity of the members. 



