1895- 



SOME NEW BOOKS. 



131 



We are told in a prospectus, issued at the end of this volume, that 

 the " Cambridge Natural History is intended, in the first instance, 

 for those who have not had any special scientific training, and who 

 are not necessarily acquainted with scientific language. At the same 

 time an attempt is made, not only to combine popular treatment with 

 the latest results of modern scientific research, but to make the 

 volumes useful to those who may be regarded as serious students in 

 the various subjects. Certain parts have the character of a work of 

 reference." The value of this volume has, therefore, to be estimated 

 from two distinct points of view. 



Natural Science has already alluded to the very interesting 

 nature of that part of the work addressed to the lay reader and to the 

 outdoor naturalist (Fig. i). The chapters dealing with such subjects as 

 " Tenacity of Life," " Self-burial of Snails," " Showers of Shells," 

 " Shells as Money," " Oysters under the Romans," and " Snails as 

 Medicine," are undoubtedly such as the cheap bookseller would 

 describe as " good reading," and have already proved a happy 

 hunting ground for the daily press and the popular weeklies. But 

 there is real value in the collection of a large number of observations 

 on moUuscan bionomics, a branch of his study which the laboratory 

 zoologist is too apt to overlook. It would, perhaps, have been more 

 convenient for those who are expected to use this volume as " a work 

 of reference," had these valuable notes been subjected to a little more 

 arrangement and co-ordination. The deposition and hatching of eggs 

 in Helix and Limiuea, which forms a section in chapter ii., would have 

 been better placed in chapter v., which is specially devoted to the 

 subject of reproduction. This is one of many instances of confused 

 arrangement, which might have been avoided had Mr. Cooke or his 

 editors regarded their duties in a less light manner. 



A 



Fig. I. — A. Strombus mauritianus, 

 which mimics B. Comes j anus 

 in shape. Both from Mauri- 

 tius. This instance was 

 quotedinourvol.vi.,onp. 301. 



Fig. 2. — Xeiwphoni {Phoi'iis)pdllidula, Reeve. 

 A specimen that has " decorated its 

 body whorl exclusively with long and 

 pointed shells." From a " Challenger" 

 specimen in the British Museum, x ^. 



In reading these interesting chapters, one or two remarks have 

 suggested themselves, which are here offered in no censorious spirit, 

 but merely as suggestions for a possible second edition. On p. 11, is 

 this sentence, " The problem of the origin and mutual relationship of 

 the various forms of molluscan life is of extreme subtlety. . . . 

 But there is one branch of the Mollusca — the land and fresh-water 

 genera — whose origin is, comparatively speaking, of recent date, and 



K 2 



