26 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



E 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



LEMENTARY Text-Book of Zoology, by Dr. 

 C. Claus. Translated and edited by Adam 

 Sedgwick, M.A., and F. G. Heathcote, B.A. (London: 

 W. S. Sonnenschein & Co.). To a seeker after 

 scientific truth and knowledge that parochial minded- 

 ness which w^e sometimes dignify under the title of 

 "Patriotism" gives place to a candid recognition 

 of merit wherever it is found. Otherwise we should 

 have regretted that no English Zoologist had pro- 

 vided students with a work of this class. Nicholson's 

 Manuals go part of the way, but only a part. A 

 really good text-book of Zoology, something like 

 Sachs' Manual of Botany, was much wanted. Dr. 

 Claus's name, both as a teacher and investigator, are 

 well known, and this translation of his well-known 

 manual will be thankfully received by zoological 

 students. Let us add that we think the work has 

 been improved by editing and translating. Certainly 

 none could better have fulfilled this task than Mr. 

 Adam Sedgwick. The chief feature which strikes 

 us in reading the present work is its lucidity. The 

 English is of the best, and the illustrations apt and 

 pointed. Although it only includes the invertebrate 

 animals from the Protozoa to the Insecta (in the 

 special part), the preceding general part is of great 

 value. Nothing in connection with the science and 

 philosophy of zoology has been lost sight of, and the 

 comparison of the same organs in different classes of 

 animals, of similar structures, their embryological 

 and general development, the discussion of the 

 doctrines of evolution, natural selection, the histori- 

 cal review of Zoology — all of which are duly treated 

 upon in the general part — recommend the work as a 

 most attractive one. The woodcuts are very numerous 

 and of a high artistic character. 



On the Fossil Fishes of the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone Series of Great Britain, by J. W. Davis, F.G.S. 

 (Dublin : Published by the Royal Dublin Society). 

 Here is a work of quite another character, one which 

 demands infinite pains and patience, and that quick 

 and ready intuitive diagnosis of specimens which 

 almost amounts to genius. And yet the author (a 

 young man) is no salaried professor, or state endowed 

 investigator, but a British manufacturer, with a 

 brisk business to successfully superintend. British 

 science owes much to such men, and we are proud 

 of them — our Lubbocks, Evans, Tylors, Sorbys, 

 and Davises ! The present monograph will be a 

 great boon to real workers, particularly on the 

 interesting carboniferous limestone. Mr. Davis 

 derived the materials for his examination and study 

 from the well-known collection of the Earl of 

 Enniskillen, now in the British Museum, South 

 Kensington. He has laid under contributions the 

 collections in the National Museum ; the museums of 

 the Geological Society, of Dublin, Cambridge, York, 



Bristol, &c, besides private collections. Mr. Davis 

 accepts Giinther's classification ; and without de- 

 voting more than half a page to his introduction, 

 he plunges at once into his subject, like a practical 

 man. The plates are 65 in number, coloured, and 

 very artistically got up ; so that the volume is a 

 credit to the Royal Dublin Society, and one which 

 cannot fail to greatly enhance the : high reputation as 

 a palaeontologist which the author has been deservedly 

 earning for some years past. 



Phillips's Manual of Geology, edited by Robert 

 Etheridge, F.R.S., and H. G. Seely, F.R.S. (London : 

 Charles Griffin & Co.). We cannot complain of 

 want of manuals in geology, although palaeontology 

 is by no means so well off. The present volume is 

 devoted to " Physical Geology," and is edited by 

 Prof. Seely, who has taken the well-known and 

 almost classic work of Prof. John Phillips as a basis, 

 and it evolved this book. It must have been a 

 harder task for Mr. Seely to work on these lines than 

 to have written an original manual. But he has 

 loyally fulfilled his work, and under the role of 

 editor, has really given to geological students a work, 

 whose erudition, painstaking succinctness, and 

 thoroughness, none would have more heartily 

 recognized than the genial John Phillips himself — 

 who would have been amused in no small way at 

 finding how his little book had grown into a big one ! 

 Many of the illustrations are those used in the 

 original work. 



The Student's Elements of Geology, by Sir Charles 

 Lyell, Bart., F.R.S. Fourth edition, Revised by 

 P. M. Duncan, F.R.S. (London : John Murray). 

 It is late in the day to praise Lyell's Elements. It is 

 far beyond the region of criticism. But one feels 

 glad that so old a friend as this book is — endeared by 

 those recollections of the past, when it sent us with 

 delighted enthusiasm to the work, and the fossils of 

 which it treated — has not been allowed to fall out of 

 the ranks of geological literature. It is seven years 

 since the last edition appeared, and geology has 

 progressed marvellously in the meantime ; more 

 particularly with regard to the help it has received 

 from microscopical investigation. The publisher was 

 fortunate enough to get an editor who has a high 

 reputation as a geologist and palaeontologist, and 

 who also knows how to write for students. Con- 

 sequently this is by far the best edition of Lyell's 

 " Student's Elements," which has ever appeared. 



Plant-Lore, Legends, mid Lyrics, by Richard 

 Folkard, jun. (London : Sampson Low & Co.). No 

 department of natural knowledge has taken such 

 a hold on the public mind as plants. No other 

 natural objects are so intimately associated with 

 the historical mental and moral development of 

 mankind at large, or have so grown up, and inter- 

 mingled with its hopes and fears, joys and sorrows. 

 There is hardly a common wayside weed which is 

 not sanctified to us in these modern times by 



