W^ Bibliographical Notices. 



Tenhy : a Sea-side Holiday. By Philip Henry Gosse, A.L.S. 

 London, Van Voorst, 185 G. 12mo. 



Amongst the numerous caterers to the appetite for j)opular books 

 on Natural History, which is rapidly, whether for good or ill, be- 

 coming a more and more fashionable craving, Mr. Gosse has un- 

 doubtedly taken a very leading position. This is due not only to 

 the numerous works of this nature which owe their existence to his 

 prolific pen, for in this respect he is certainly not without rivals, but 

 to the intimate practical acquaintance which he possesses with those 

 marine creatures with which he principally has to do, and to a second 

 and still rarer quality, springing perhaps to a certain extent from the 

 former, that of treating whatever comes under his hand in a style at 

 once pleasant and elegant, intermixing so much of human interest 

 with his descriptions of what in less skilful hands would furnish 

 intolerably dry reading, at least to the masses, that the dry bones 

 become clothed with flesh and endowed with an astonishing amount 

 of life and vigour. As regards the positive effect of these works, 

 and the policy of consigning original zoological observations to pages 

 which may almost be regarded as addressed exclusively to the un- 

 learned in such matters, there may be two opinions ; but there can be 

 no doubt, that those multitudes who at this particular period of the 

 year are always meditating gravely upon the necessity of passing the 

 next two or three months in some dreary watering-place, have good 

 cause to be thankful to Mr. Gosse for his delightful productions, 

 and to wish most heartily that there were more guides and instruc- 

 tors "like unto him." 



" Tenby," Mr. Gosse' s new sea-side book, does not fall short of its 

 predecessors in general interest, although the amount of new matter 

 for the student contained in it is perhaps rather less. It opens with 

 an amusing account of the railway journey into Wales, and the first 

 acquaintance with the semi-foreign natives of the Principality ; the 

 energetic struggles of the Tenby coachmen to secure customers are 

 not forgotten, and the whole journey is described in a style which in 

 these days of unromantic travel is quite refreshing. The first im- 

 pressions of Tenby and the neighbouring scenery are also graphically 

 described, — Saint Catherine's and its caverns stand out vividly in many 

 pages, and the singularly rapid influx of the tide over the sands serves 

 to introduce a humorous picture of the perplexity of three ladies, 

 whom Mr. Gosse ungallantly describes as " middle-aged " and 

 "somewhat heavy in person," who in their anxiety to view the 

 beauties of the place were somewhat unpleasantly reminded of the 

 fact that the old proverb, "Time and Tide wait for no man," ap- 

 plies with equal truth to the fairer portion of humanity. This and 

 many other passages of a similar nature, including several excellent 

 descriptions of scenery and pieces of local history, must be regarded 

 by the scientific naturalist, however he may enjoy them, as coming 

 parenthetically in the midst of his severer studies ; — we shall there- 

 fore refer no farther to the lighter portion of Mr. Gosse's book. 



We have already said that the number of new facts brought for- 

 ward in the present volume seems to be less than in Mr. Gosse's 



