The Scott is Ji Naturalist. 277 



date. The descriptions are short, but clear; and there are several good wood- 

 cuts scattered through the book. Its usefulness to the practical conchologist 

 is increased by the fact that it is interleaved to receive notes, despite its small 

 size. It ought to prove very useful in encouraging the study of conchology in 

 all parts of our country. 



My Telescope, by "A Quekett Club Man," fulfils successfully its aim, 

 stated on the title-page to be "a simple introduction to the glories of the 

 heavens." In brief form it gives such an account of the most attractive of the 

 heavenly bodies as should not only instruct, but also stimulate the desire to 

 learn among those amateurs possessed of even moderately good telescopes. 

 Numerous illustrations add to the attractions of this little book. 



The Flora of West Yorkshire. By F. Arnold Lees, M.R.C.S., 

 Eng. (Vol. II. of the Botanical Series 6f the Transactions of the York- 

 shire Naturalists' Union). 

 Though we cannot claim Yorkshire as a part of Scotland, nay, though the 

 relations of Yorkshiremen and Scotchmen in the days of the long struggle of 

 our forefathers for independence were often openly hostile and seldom friendly, 

 yet these relations have long been changed , and there is much to induce us 

 to interest ourselves in the great shire that in so many of its features might be 

 a part of the "land of brown heath and shaggy wood." But in few ways 

 can our sympathies be more heartily given to the men of Yorkshire than in 

 the wish that they may attain to the fullest success in their investigations of 

 the natural history of their native county, since their success throws light upon 

 our own borders, and aids us in similar labours in Scotland. 



From this point of view we must congratulate ourselves, scarcely less heartily 

 than we congratulate the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, upon " The Flora 

 Of West Yorkshire," by the well-known botanist, F. Arnold Lees, 

 which has just been published under the auspices of the Union. In the preface 

 the author tells us that the work "has (truly) been to him a many years 

 labour of love," and the result is such as to prove that the loving work of 

 years must have been freely given. It is modelled on Mr. Baker's admirable 

 book, " North Yorkshire ; " but the quarter of a century that has elapsed since 

 the appearance of that Flora has enabled Mr. Lees to advance upon his model 

 so far that in extent and completeness this Flora is, we believe, unequalled ; 

 though we hope to see it rivalled in the near future, in thoroughness, if not in 

 number of species, by Dr. Buchanan White's Flora of Perthshire, and other 

 Scotch Floras in the preparation of which so much work has been done of late 

 years. 



Mr. Lees has commenced his Flora with chapters on the Climatology 

 of the Riding, (under which are also included a discussion of Mr. Watson's 

 Zones of Vegetation, tables of the altitudinal limitations in West Yorkshire for 

 420 selected plants, of 80 selected lowland plants, of 83 montane and 43 sub- 

 montane species, and an inquiry into the " Genesis of the Flora ") ; on the 

 Liithology-in its influence on the distribution of the plants of West York- 

 shire ; and on the Bibliography, from the earliest mention of West York- 

 shire plants by any botanist (Wm. Turner in his Herbal, doubtfully in 1548, 

 certainly in 1568), arranged chronologically down to 1887. 



