245 



HARDIVJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Leaves channeled, but linear-lanceolate, not curled ; 

 flowers in dense raceme, blue ; upper and above 

 flowers pink-tinged ; teeth, of corolla white and well- 

 marked. 



4. M. comosum, Mill, (feather hyacinth). Bulb 

 ovoid ; leaves large and spreading ; racemes prolonged 

 and loose. Lower and fertile flowers livid brown ; 

 upper ones, long-stalked, crowning raceme like 

 feathers, abortive, and of blue colour. 



It is now but the commencement of April, but 

 other plants of the Lily order are in leaf, and 

 will shortly be in flower in the neighbourhood of 

 Montreux. We have noted species of Tulipa, Scilla, 

 Allium, Ornithogalum, Gagea, Erythronium, and 

 Lilium already far advanced in growth. If there are 

 botanists among the readers of Science-Gossip 

 who wish to visit the upper end of the lake of Geneva 

 at the best season for the flowers of the lower Alpine 

 slopes, we strongly recommend the month of May as 

 the time of year most suitable. The Hotel les 

 Avants, 3200 feet above the sea, and about 2000 feet 

 above Montreux, is a very Paradise for botanists, and 

 in May the slopes of surrounding mountains are a 

 very blaze of colour from the brilliant succession 

 of Alpine flowers. 



C. Parkinson. 



Montreux. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



J~\ICTIONARY of the Names of British Plants, 

 J—S by Henry Purefoy Fitzgerald (London : 

 Bailliere, Tindall, & Cox). This little book is 

 calculated to be of great use to botanists, especially 

 to self-taught students of the science. It gives 

 the generic and specific names of British plants 

 arranged alphabetically, with the derivation where 

 known, and the pronunciation. In the case of specific 

 names, the name of some plant is also given to which 

 the specific name applies. It is from no desire to 

 find faults that the fact is pointed out, that there are 

 no accent marks given in the pronunciation-words. 

 Doubtless in most cases the length of the vowels is 

 practically sufficient, but the word Helosciadum at 

 least might be accented in several ways. Silaifolia 

 might be inserted in the next edition. 



British Butterflies, Moths and Beetles (" The 

 Young Collector "), by W. F. Kirby (London : 

 Sonnenschein & Co.), is. This book begins with 

 a brief outline of the class Insecta, with examples 

 and figures under each order. The rest of the book 

 is divided into two parts, in which are treated at 

 greater length British beetles and British butterflies 

 and moths. Brief descriptions are given as well as 

 numerous woodcuts, while in the case both of general 

 entomology, and of butterflies and moths, a short list 

 of books likely to be useful to beginners is given. 

 There is neither a table of contents nor an index. 



Our Insect Enemies, by Theodore Wood (London : 

 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). In this 

 little book the author has attempted, he says, to trace 

 the life histories of injurious insects, pointing out how 

 they are injurious, and as far as possible ^he range 

 and extent of their ravages, treating them for the most 

 part in the order of their present system of classifica- 

 tion rather than in accordance with the particular 

 crops they frequent. The book is uniform in general 

 appearance with the Natural History Rambles series, 

 and like some of this series unfortunately has no 

 index, a defect only partially remedied by the detailed 

 table of contents. The Aphis or " Green-Blight " has 

 four chapters to itself, in which its structure and life- 

 history are taken up, and various individual species 

 noted. Cockchafers, wire-worms, weevils, turnip saw- 

 fly, and many other injurious insects, including butter- 

 flies and moths, follow on. The clothes-moth is 

 omitted on account of the limited character of its 

 ravages and its beneficial influence out of doors. The 

 book, which is illustrated with woodcuts, contains 

 much that should be commended to the notice of all 

 who have to do with raising crops, for it is almost 

 entirely with out-door life that it is concerned. 



Scientific Romances, No. II.— The Persian King, 

 or The Law of the Valley, by C. H. Hinton, B.A. 

 (London : Swan Sonnenschein & Co.), is. The 

 clever author of "What is the Fourth Dimension ? " 

 has here produced another scientific romance, his 

 ostensible topic this time being Energy and its 

 dissipation. His book requires to be read with 

 attention and care, and the fact that he has supplied 

 an explanatory second part may be taken as evidence 

 that he does not consider the allegory in the first part 

 as likely to sufficiently explain itself. The inhabitants 

 of the valley in which the Persian king finds himself 

 have a tendency to apathy, the pleasure of doing 

 anything being exact)y equalled by the accompanying 

 pain. The king, however, can make them act, by 

 means of a power with which he is endowed, of taking 

 upon himself some of the pain attending any action 

 which he wishes performed, leaving thus an excess of 

 pleasure which causes the performance of the action. 

 Now the king corresponds more or less to a certain 

 supposed ultimate medium, which, according to the 

 view here propounded, is the cause of all motion. 

 The second part of the book should be read by every- 

 one interested in questions of physics ; and if the 

 reader afterwards turns to the first part he may find 

 there, whether he understand them or not, passages 

 which imply that the writer includes in his subject 

 higher things than physics. 



A Tour in Sutherlandshire, with Extracts from the 

 Field-Books of a Sportsman and Naturalist, by Charles 

 St. John, with Appendix on the Fauna of Sutherland, 

 by J. A. Harvie-Brown, F.Z.S., and T. E. Buckley, 

 F.Z.S., 2 vols. (Edinburgh : David Douglas). This is 

 the second edition of a work issued between thirty 

 and forty years ago, the author being an ardent 



