250 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Sphingida, as DeilepJiila. Galii, D. lineaia, D. 

 vespertilio, D. hippophacs, ic, have caterpillars which 

 go through the same initial changes — the specific and 

 characteristic markings being assumed generally at 

 the last moult, or the last but one. We cannot too 

 strongly recommend this work to entomologists. A 

 number of coloured plates at the end assist the author 

 in rendering his most interesting observations and 

 conclusions all the better understood. 



The following volumes are additional contributions 

 to the Intertiational Scientific Series — a scientific 

 library which may be regarded as the best ever 

 attempted, every author being engaged to write a 

 book on the subject with which he is best acquainted. 

 Authors from every nation have contributed to this 

 series. Thus we have Illusions, by James Sully, 

 dealing with a subject on which the author is a well- 

 known authority — a subject rendered as broad in its 

 views as it can well be made, embracing all that can 

 well come under the head of "Illusions," physiologi- 

 cal or psychological. The reader will find some very 

 striking and original remarks in this work. 



Sight, by Dr. Le Comte, is an exposition of the 

 principles of monocular and binocular vision, and the 

 author's endeavour to render this book intelligible 

 and interesting to the general reader, as well as 

 profitable to even the most advanced specialist, is 

 highly successful. ^ 



Muscles and Nerves, by Dr. J. Rosenthal, is a con- 

 nected account of their general physiology. In it 

 the reader finds a plain and readable summary of all 

 that has been said or written on muscles and nerves, 

 so that to a physiological student, to whom time is 

 precious, this treatise is invaluable. 



Volcanoes, by Professor Judd, F.R.S. We call 

 special attention to this volume, for we regard it 

 as one of the most important yet issued. Nobody is 

 better able to speak on this subject than the author — 

 no one will be more attentively listened to. The 

 clearness of the literary style and aptness of the 

 similes render the study of this little treatise almost 

 a recreation. The woodcut illustrations are numerous 

 and well selected. Every student of physical geo- 

 graphy ought to procure this volume, and then get 

 somewhere out of the way in order to read it through 

 at once ! All the above works are published by 

 C. Kegan Paul & Co., London. 



Vegetable Mould and Earthworms, by Charles 

 Darwin, LL.D., F.R.S. (London : John Murray), 

 is only just out, and it is one of the most readable 

 of the many very readable books of this remarkable 

 man. As far back as 1837 Mr. Darwin read a paper 

 on this subject before the Geological Society, and now 

 we have what is quite a manual upon it, in which 

 are many important zoological, botanical, geological, 

 and archaeological side-lights. Clearness of expres- 



sion is one of Mr. Darwin's literary characteristics, 

 and this is unusually manifested in the volume 

 before us. 



On the Indian Hills, by Edwin Lester Arnold, in 

 2 vols. (London : Sampson Low & Co.). The 

 author of this attractive and most ably written work 

 in an esteemed contributor to our pages, and many 

 of our readers have already made acquaintance with 

 him unknowingly. They will therefore be prepared to 

 expect in such a work as the present a good many 

 original natural history observations over and above 

 the subject matter of the book itself, and they will 

 not be disappointed. Whatever may be the special 

 object of a man in writing a book about another 

 country, the fact that he has open eyes for all the 

 natural objects around him predisposes us to think 

 that his reflections on the main object will be all the 

 more correct on that account. Mr. Arnold really 

 relates his short experience as a coffee-planter in 

 Southern India, but he is a cheerful portrayer for 

 non-voyagers of the different scenes which struck him 

 on the way out. The descriptions of Ceylon and its 

 people, Kandy, and the "Jungle days" are quite 

 graphic. "On the Indian Hills" is eminently 

 an entertaining book, and one that cannot fail to 

 establish a literary reputation for its young and 

 accomplished author. 



Sea Mosses, by A. B. Hervey, M.A. (London : 

 Triibner & Co.), is a work concerning which we 

 have no fault to find except that its name is likely to 

 be misleading. For the book really is a collector's 

 guide and introduction to the study of marine Algae. 

 The present is an English edition of an American 

 work. It is illustrated^by twenty exquisitely coloured 

 plates of sea-weeds (nearly all of which are also 

 British), and it is altogether a most attractively got 

 up work. 



Gardens and Woodlands, by Frances Jane Hope 

 (London : Macmillan & Co.), is a memorial volume, 

 consisting chiefly of reprinted papers by the deceased 

 lady from the Gardeners' Chronicle, &c. The papers 

 are eminently readable, and display much botanical 

 knowledge and horticultural taste. 



A Pocket Guide to British Ferns, by Marian S. 

 Ridley (London : David Bogue), is exactly what its 

 title-page professes it to be — a somewhat rare occur- 

 rence. In spite of the numerous popular works on 

 ferns, there was room for a little manual of this 

 kind. The student will find that all the peculiari- 

 ties of each species of fern are tabulated, so that the 

 mind can perceive them at a glance. It is just 

 the book to take in one's pocket when out fern- 

 collecting. 



Rambles of a Naturalist roimd Folkestone, by Plenry 

 Ullyett, B.Sc, F.G.S. (Folkestone: J. Enghsh). This 

 handsome little volume (also by an old contributor to 

 our pages) gives .a pleasantly written description of 



