1899] POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY 69 



blackish-brown in colour, but irregularly spotted and banded with white, the 

 costal portion variegated with green and pink, and expand fully eight inches." 

 " The colour of the body in many Phasmidae may change from brown in early 

 life to green, subsequently returning to the brown tint. If this be owing to the 

 presence of chlorophyll or other plant-juices among the insect-tissues, its ex- 

 planation is not far to seek." "Sir John Hunter" is a slip that probably 

 expresses admiration for his genius. 



The illustrations of the insects deserve high praise, and the printer has done 

 his work well. The book fills a place not previously occupied in the literature 

 of entomology, and places within reach of English readers much varied informa- 

 tion. The quaint forms and admirable disguises of the leaf -insects and "walk- 

 ing sticks," the methods of capturing prey employed by the mantis, the beauty 

 of colour, the methods of producing sounds, and many other curious traits, are 

 all described here, and should attract students to the Orthoptera, which rarely 

 get the attention they deserve. J. H. W. T. 



In the February number of the American Geologist Mr. W. S. Gresley throws 

 some " Side-light upon Coal Formation," in adducing evidence that many coal- 

 seams have not undergone any appreciable vertical compression since the time 

 of their formation from decaying vegetation. He also points out that when 

 coal arises from drifted deposits laid out in water, the shale band occurring 

 above the coal may represent that which originally underlay the plant-remains. 

 Such reversals by the agency of denudation, the materials of the highest original 

 bed becoming laid down first in the new area of deposition, then those of the bed 

 below, then those of the next bed, and so on, are of course not uncommon in the 

 geological series. 



Mr. J. B. Woodworth writes of the classification of glacial deposits, laying 

 useful stress on the association of "sands and gravels" with the melting of ice- 

 masses in situ. In introducing one or two new technical terms he, almost by 

 miracle, avoids the use of Greek, a language which has preponderated in the 

 modern geological literature of America, to the confusion and astonishment of 

 Eastern readers. 



Mr. Hovey's report of the winter meeting of the Geological Society of 

 America contains a number of suggestive abstracts. Mr. Walcott's announce- 

 ment (p. 99) of " plates of crustaceans closely related to Eurypterus " in the 

 Algonkian beds of Montana, 4000 feet below the base of the Cambrian, 

 will be received by palaeontologists with respectful watchfulness. Possibly 

 the lover of thrust-planes will also want to have his say in the matter. At the 

 present time students of variation in igneous magmas will read with interest 

 Mr. Emerson's observations on absorption by granite, quoted on p. 105. 



In the March number of the Naturalist Mr. O. Grabham gives an account 

 of the bats found in Yorkshire, with notes on their habits in confinement. The 

 absence of attention to recent emendations in nomenclature is as conspicuous 

 in this as in an earlier paper on British bats noticed in these columns. Our 

 own opinion with regard to such emendations is, that it is frequently desirable 

 to " let sleeping dogs lie " ; but that when they have once been made by a 

 naturalist of recognised eminence it is the duty of humbler folk to follow suit, 

 and not to presume to have opinions of their own on such subjects. 



We are grateful to the editor of Finland for sending us a copy of the first 

 number of his beautifully printed, admirably written magazine. The subjects 

 with which it deals, though of enthralling interest, can scarcely claim to be 

 touched on in a scientific journal, except in so far as every worker in science 

 thereby confesses himself a lover and an advocate of freedom, education, and the 

 right to know and think. The offices of Finland are at 106 Victoria Street, 

 London, S.W., and the price is 3d. a number. 



