HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



1C9 



A GOSSIP ABOUT NEW BOOKS. 



good 



VIDENTLY the 

 progress of scien- 

 tific literature is 

 influenced by the 

 same depressive 

 causes as those 

 which affect com- 

 merce, for, the 

 last three or four 

 years have been 

 notable for the 

 relatively few 

 books which have 

 appeared. To a 

 great extent, how- 

 ever, this has been 

 compensated by 

 the high character 

 of the published 

 works, and we are 

 pleased to note 

 books which creates the 

 the Theory of Descent, by 



the demand for 

 supply. Studies in 

 Dr. Aug. Weismann, translated and edited by 

 R.Meldola, F.C.S. (London : Sampson Low & Co.), 

 is a work of the highest biological interest. The 

 present part deals with the "Seasonal Dimorphism 

 of Butterflies ;" by which term is implied those 

 differences in colour and marking in certain butter- 

 flies which not long ago caused entomologists to 

 regard them as distinct species. They are now known 

 to be only summer and winter broods of the same 

 species, and Dr. Weismann's experiments plainly 

 show how they have arisen ; viz., by the gradually 

 increasing warmth which has marked the northern 

 hemisphere since the close of the glacial period. 

 Here we have another illustration of the wonderful 

 action of physical geography upon organic life. Dr. 

 Weismann is fortunate in having an excellent editor 

 and translator, and his book reads as attractively as 

 one of Darwin's. The latter philosopher writes a 

 prefatory notice to the work, recommending it to the 

 attention of naturalists. 



An Elementary Text Book of Botany, translated 

 from the German by Dr. K. Prantl, the translation 

 No. 188. 



revised by Dr. S. H. Vines, F.L.S., is published by 

 W. Swan Sonnenschein. Numerous though our 

 botanical text-books are, there was room for the 

 present work ; and the fact that Dr. Vines has taken 

 it in hand is a sufficient recommendation of the 

 merits of the original work. It is based on similar 

 lines to Sachs' great work, to which it may be re- 

 garded as an introduction ; and it devotes the larger 

 half to the morphology of plants. The illustrations 

 are two hundred and seventy-five in number, and all 

 are of excellent quality. 



Degeneration : a Chapter in Darwinism, by 

 Professor Ray Lankester F.R.S. (London : Mac- 

 millan). Those who were privileged to hear Professor 

 Lankester deliver the evening discourse on this subject 

 at the Sheffield Meeting of the British Association will 

 be pleased to know that it has just been published, 

 profusely illustrated, as a volume of the well-known 

 " Nature " series. Its low price brings it within the 

 reach of the poorest reader. Few works have lately 

 appeared, even of a far more pretentious character, 

 which have impressed us more than the little work 

 before us. It is an eminently and solemnly thought- 

 ful book, dealing with familiar zoological facts in the 

 simplest manner, and yet making them illustrate the 

 grandest of evolutional principles, no less than the 

 progress and decay of nations. We sincerely commend 

 it to all those of our readers who enjoy original 

 research and clear inductive reasoning. To such it 

 will be a rare treat. 



Natural History Rambles : Ponds arid Ditches, by 

 M. C.Cooke, LL.D. (London: S.P.C.K. Society). 

 Who among living naturalists could have been better 

 intrusted with the task of writing a popular and 

 attractive little handbook on this subject, than Dr. 

 Cooke ? The present work is one of the well-known 

 " Natural History Rambles " series which the Chris- 

 tian Knowledge Society commenced last year, and 

 to which Dr. Cooke's work is a recent addition. 

 There can be no question that " Ponds and Ditches " 

 is the best of the series. It is written in Dr. Cooke's 

 animated style, and everywhere impresses us and 

 inoculates us with his own love of the subject. Such 

 a handbook has long been wanted, and there can be 

 no doubt of the literary success of the present volume. 



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