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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



evolution which have caused that theory to take such 

 firm hold on the mind of most naturalists. By its 

 means the seemingly chaotic abundance of scientific 

 discovery is being reduced to the simplicity and order 

 of unity. Our own convictions are quite in agree- 

 ment with Mr. Wallace's conclusion to the present 

 work: — "We are thus encouraged to study more 

 completely every detail and every anomaly in the 

 distribution of living things, in the firm conviction 

 that by so doing we shall obtain a fuller and clearer 

 insight into the course of nature, and with increased 

 confidence that the ' mighty maze ' of Being we 

 see everywhere around us is not without a plan." 



A Manual of Paleontology for the use of Students, 

 by H. A. Nicholson, M.D.j D.Sc, &c, in two volumes. 

 (Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood & 

 Sons.) This is the second and greatly enlarged 

 edition of a book concerning which we wrote when 

 it appeared a few years ago — " In this Manual the 

 geological student has a most valuable and extensive 

 work placed at his disposal." Dr. Nicholson then 

 laid the foundation for a splendid and most useful 

 work, such as few naturalists besides himself were fit 

 to undertake. It has now grown to a book more 

 than double the size of the original edition, in which 

 every new palaeontological fact finds its place. The 

 woodcut illustrations are of a very superior kind, and 

 are between seven and eight hundred in number. 

 This is a matter of much concern to the student who 

 is desirous of identifying fossils. The Glossary of 

 Terms at the end of the second volume is so full and 

 complete that it would easily make a small volume 

 itself. Practically the present work is a new one 

 compared with the first edition, which ought rather 

 to be regarded as its pioneer, for it has been com- 

 pletely re-cast and often re-written. Professor 

 Nicholson has placed all geological and most zoo- 

 logical students under a great obligation by the 

 masterly way in which he has collected, arranged, 

 and classified the facts of the most difficult of modern 

 sciences, Palaeontology. No library of natural science 

 can afford to be without the present work. 



The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of 

 Te.xas, by Henry Christopher M'Cook. (Philadelphia 

 and London : J. B. Lippincott & Co.) Dr. M'Cook 

 is well known to naturalists for the years of observa- 

 tion he has devoted to perhaps the most intelligent 

 and sagacious of all insects, the agricultural ants of 

 Texas. These little creatures grow corn and store it 

 up for winter use in their granaries. They make 

 clearings, cut down grass for the purpose, carry 

 away the material composing mounds, and even 

 make roads! Dr. M'Cook has now published the 

 result of his Ipng labours, in a handsomely got up 

 illustrated volume of more than two hundred pages. 

 Ail who are interested in insects will read it, and will 

 acknowledge that not only is fact stranger than 

 fiction ; but also that the history of a Texan Formicary 

 reads as charmingly as that of Liliputia ! 



A large number of most useful and ably written 

 works have recently been issued from the " Bazaar " 

 Office, 170 Strand, London, among which one of the 

 most generally pleasant is Notes on Came and Game 

 Shooting, by J. J. Manley, M.A., a well-known 

 writer on the natural history of sport. This book is 

 well got up, the illustrations being of a higher order 

 than usual. Although more especially written for 

 sportsmen, the author is a true naturalist, with a keen 

 power of observation and possessed of an easy, cultured 

 style of description which will make his book a wel- 

 come companion to the sporting and natural history 

 library. Other books are now issuing in sixpenny 

 monthly parts, from the same publishing office, all of 

 which we can heartily and earnestly recommend, such 

 as Practical Trapping, by W. Carnegie (" Moorman"); 

 The Practical Fisherman, dealing with the natural 

 history, the legendary lore, and the capture of 

 British fresh-water fish ; Bee-keeping for Amateurs, by 

 Thomas Addey (the Lincolnshire apiarian) ; 

 Practical Photography, by O. E. Wheeler ; British 

 Z>ogs, by Hugh Dalziel (" Corsincon"), which deals 

 with all the varieties, history and characteristics of 

 the canine breeds, and is capitally illustrated with 

 numerous portraits of the leading dogs who are having 

 their day ; Fancy Pigeons, by J . C . Lyell ; The Book of 

 the Rabbit, by L. U. Gill, &c. The same publishers 

 have also issued an interesting reprint of a rare and 

 curious old book which appeared in the year I57^> 

 entitled Of Englishe Dogges. The book first appeared 

 in Latin by John Caius, " Doctor of Phisicke in the 

 "Universitie of Cambridge," and was "newly drawne 

 into Englishe" in the above year by "Abraham 

 Fleming, student." Speaking of reprints reminds 

 us of another which has been lying on our shelves 

 awaiting a notice — A Treatysc of Fysshynge with an 

 Angle, by Dame Juliana Berners. (London : 

 Elliot Stock.) This is one of the best of the well- 

 known reprints which Mr. Stock has yet published. 

 It is a facsimile reproduction in every respect, paper, 

 printing, and even binding, of the first book on the 

 subject of fishing printed in England by Wynkyn de 

 Worde at Westminster in 1496. The Rev. M. G. 

 Watkins, M.A., writes a very pleasant and scholarly 

 introduction to it. 



Two new books on Bee-Keeping. We are more 

 pleased with the revival of bee-culture in our midst 

 than with many other movements of greater pre- 

 tended value. The very mention of it conjures up 

 those qualities of providence in which we English 

 are lamentably deficient. We are importing both 

 wax and honey into this country, at the rate of 

 scores of thousands of pounds per annum, and 

 meantime our own crops are going unfertilised 

 becs.use there are not bees enough to cross them ! 

 British B ee- Farming : Its Profits and Pleasures, by 

 J. F. Robinson (London : Chapman and Hall), is a 

 capitally-written, enthusiastic, and thoroughly ex- 

 haustive book on the subject, by an old and valued 



