266 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 



reached. It is a pity that the photograph given is no proof, owing to 

 the absence of accessories. 



Passing from mammals to birds, we regret to learn that the lyre- 

 bird, Menv/ra superba, is in danger of extinction. At the same time 

 we can hardly wonder at it, since it is the supposed duty of every 

 globe-trotter to bring home for his female relatives, present or future, a 

 pair of the splendid tail-feathers to which the bird owes its name. In 

 the excellent chapter on birds the greatest space is devoted to the fern- 

 owls, Podargus strigoidcs ; and the humorous series of photographs, illus- 

 trating the remarkable changes of form and expression in these quick- 

 change artistes, should render them familiar in our mouths as household 

 words. The familiar name, however, "more-pork," is based on a 

 misapprehension, since the bird which utters this melancholy cry is 

 really Ninox boobook. Other birds on which valuable notes are given 

 are the Queensland shrike (Cracticus torquatus), the 1ST. Queensland 

 laughing jackass, various finches (Poephila), and the firetail (Estrdda 

 bella.) 



Zoologists will not be surprised to find a large space devoted to 

 the frilled lizard, Cldamydosaurm kingi, since they will all be familiar 

 with the interesting observations that Mr Saville-Kent has published 

 on this reptile. Reptile one must call it, though its favourite mode 

 of progression is rather that of the Anglo-Saxon messenger in " Alice 

 through the Looking-glass," as shown in the figures. Another text-book 

 error is to represent this animal with its frill extended, but with its 

 mouth closed, a physiological impossibility, for the frill is supported by 

 processes of the hyoid or tongue-bone, which are pressed out by the fall 

 of the lower jaw. The bearded lizard (Amjdiibolurus barbatus), the 

 mountain devil (Moloch horridus), the stump-tailed lizard (Trachysaurus 

 rugosus), and many others are vividly brought before us by the author's 

 pen and camera. 



Chapter iv. introduces those marvellous structures, the homes 

 of the termites or white ants, and gives some striking photographs 

 of them. Among other things not generally known, we are told that 

 both termites and termitaria may be used as food. The animals 

 themselves, though eaten in Africa and India, do not yet grace the 

 menu of Australian colonists or black-fellows, but the latter satisfy 

 their hunger with the earthy substance of the mounds, which con- 

 tains a large amount of proteaceous matter in the form both of 

 termite-secretions and of microscopic fungi. Here we may also note 

 that the green ants, described in another chapter, make, when mashed 

 up in water, an acid drink pleasant to the European as well as to the 

 native palate. Perhaps Mr Saville-Kent knows that Swedish children 

 acidulate lump-sugar by leaving it in an ant-hill for half-an-hour. 

 As for the food of the termites themselves, it is only too well known 

 by those who have spent any time in our southern colonies, that 

 many species have such a craving for wood that they will eat one 

 out of house and home if constant care be not exereised. Their 

 efforts produce a result like the sleeping palace of the fairy-tale, in 

 so far as furniture and walls are outwardly sound but crumble to dust 

 as soon as touched. There is therefore some consolation in learning 

 from this book that the mound-builders do not eat wood but grass, 

 sallying forth from their fortresses by night along hastily constructed 



