iS 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



could prey on our hearts, ihe old man's once buxom 

 dame put her head out of an upper window to survey 

 ■lis, in that peculiar matter-of-fact, what-do-you-vvant- 

 liere kind of way which defies description ; and, 

 •catching a sight of our host, set our minds at rest 

 with a " Morning to you, squire. He's in th' 'coy, 

 I'll shout for th' lad, an' he'll ta' ye to him. Mind 

 you're quiet now agoin' ! " 



A guide having appeared in answer to a full- 

 lunged cry from the mistress of the place — no wonder 

 the ducks needed a copse to dull the clamour of the 

 ciuter world — we passed through the neglected 

 pleasure-grounds where signs of former care lay on 

 every side, till we were brought to a standstill in an 

 open alley ; while the boy who conducted us went in 

 search of his grandfather. 



Our halting-place was a pretty nook from which 

 you could catch a glimpse of the house at one end 

 of the path, and of two or three stately Scotch firs 

 overhanging the decoy at the other. A stone vase, 

 half grown over with ivy, stood in the centre of the 

 Slade, and formed a trysting place for the rabbits all 

 ihe afternoon and evening, for the bunnies knew by 

 -.some process of inductive reasoning that they were 

 in sanctuary here, as no gun can be fired near the 

 decoy. The lower step of the vase, which rose 

 about an inch above the surrounding turf, bore 

 witness to the frequent visits of the thrushes, for it 

 was covered with broken snail-shells. In the early 

 morning the birds come from near and far with the 

 land-snails they have found, and beat them ruthles% 

 to death on the stone. It is not everywhere that 

 they can find such a convenient anvil, in this stretch 

 of low-lying country ; where the surface-soil is 

 usually warp, peat, or sand free from pebbles ; so 

 the quiet glade is the theatre of many a molluscan 

 tragedy. 



{To be continued.) 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



yj MERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR 

 ■jTI SPINXING-WORK, by Dr. Henry C. 

 JMcCook (Philadelphia : published by the Author), 

 vol. ii. This perfectly delightful, beautifully illus- 

 trated, well-written monograph on the natural 

 liistory of the orb-weaving spiders of the United 

 States, more especially with regard to their industry 

 and habits, is now complete. It is a work of 

 marvellous and patient single-handed industry, the 

 result of many years' observation. We have already 

 .spoken, of the first vol. ; it only remains to say the 

 second is as good, if not better, were the latter 

 possible. Indeed, the author declares it is just 

 possible the second vol. will be more interesting both 

 to the scientific and the general public than the first. 

 It takes up the life-history of spiders, and follows 

 them literally from birth to death. Moreover it 

 deals with fossil spiders and ancestral araneads. Dr. 



McCook in this highly readable volume also treats 

 upon the courting and mating of spiders; their 

 maternal skill and devotion ; their means of com- 

 munion with their environment ; their gossamer 

 voyaging through the air and traps in the ground ; 

 their friends and foes ; their mimicries and strange 

 disguises. The volume runs to nearly 500 pages, and 

 is illustrated by about four hundred cuts, in addition 

 to five large and artistically coloured plates. 



Eighth Annual Report of the United States Geological 

 Survey, 2 vols, by J. W. Powell, Director (Washing- 

 ton : Government Printing 'Office). These ever- 

 welcome vols, to English and other geologists are 

 got up and distributed with an artistic taste and 

 liberality our English Survey (thanks to the niggardly 

 Philistinism of our British Government) knows 

 nothing of. The volumes include not only the clear 

 and lengthy, well-digested " Report of the Director," 

 reviewing all the stratigraphical, mineralogical, and 

 palceontological work done by the able and earnest 

 l)and of geologists who are proud to serve under such 

 a chief, but also the administrative reports of the heads 

 of the divisions of survey. Then follow the individual 

 reports of the geologists and mineralogists entrusted 

 with special work. These are illustrated with almost 

 artistic prodigality, but the latter is intensely utili- 

 tarian, for the coloured maps, diagrams, and scenic 

 woodcut illustrations bring vividly before the mind 

 the points which the field workers wi^;h attention to 

 be drawn to. 



Monographs of the U. S. Geological Survey, vols. 

 XV. (2 parts) and xvi. (Washington : Government 

 Printing Ofiice). These vols, contain records ol 

 special work by special scientific workers. Thus, w'e 

 have one on " The Potomac or Younger Mesozoic 

 Flora," by W. M. Fontaine, with detailed descrip- 

 tions of the fossil plants found therein (abundantly 

 illustrated). Indeed, no fewer than 180 plates occupy 

 a volume alone, in order to illustrate the first part of 

 vol. XV. Volume the sixteenth is an exhaustive 

 monograph, or special report, by J. G. Newberry, on 

 "The Palaeozoic Fishes of North America," and is 

 illustrated by fifty-three splendidly lithographed 

 plates. 



Natural History of the Animal Kingdom, by W. F. 

 Kirby (London : S. P. C. K.), This is a gorgeously 

 got-up volume Ijoth internally and externally, 

 crowded with too highly coloured natural history 

 objects, of which there are about 850 displayed. The 

 work (a (|uarto vol.) is divided into three parts — 

 mammalia, birds, and one (the third part) capaciously 

 including, like Noali's ark, reptiles, amphibia, fishes, 

 insects, worms, molluscs, zoophytes, &c. Mr. Kirby 

 has very ably and accurately written up to these too- 

 Germanly coloured plates, which have evidently been 

 used from Professor Von Schubert's book. It is, 

 however, a capital natural history picture book. 



Of the next set of prettily got-up, well-printed, and 

 well-written little volumes, it is hardly possible to 



