240 The Irish Naturalist. November, 



value of any previously impressed lessons to possible foes as to what its 

 bright colours signified. " Festina lente " is a maxim not to be too roughly 

 ruled out of court, even in the winning of the device ''Nemo me impune 

 I aces sit y 



We must add that we are fulU' at one with the authors in urging the 

 need for experimental study and for a stead)' refusal to take hypotheses, 

 however plausible, as proved facts or " all-sufficient " explanations. In 

 many parts of the book before us Messrs. Dewar and Finn not only 

 argue acutely and convincingly on behalf of some of their contentions, 

 but add very materially to the sum of what the average student of 

 evolutionarj- problems can be supposed to have grasped in his effort to 

 obtain a survey of the existing data. For instance, the account given 

 (pp. 179-S0) of some of Mr. Finn*s experiments with mimetically coloured 

 Indian butterflies provides us with some of the most interesting evi- 

 dences we possess of the effectiveness of protective mimicry, showing, 

 as the}' do, not merely that such mimicry serves its purpose, but that it 

 does so with greater or less degrees of certainty in proportion as the 

 mimetic resemblance is more or less exact. It is because we think that 

 in the destructive part of their case they have taken an unwarrantably 

 confident tone and belittled extravagantly the probable influence of 

 Natural Selection that we have been at some pains to assail a few of 

 their arguments. Their book deserves not merely to be read, but to 

 have its contents carefully digested. 



C. B. M. 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Recent gifts include a Rabbit from Mr. H. E. Jolly. Hedgehogs 

 from Mr. W. E. Peebles and Mr. J. Carnell, an Otter cub from 

 Mr. F. Fitzmaurice, a Grey Wagtail, a Yellow Wagtail, and four 

 Pied Wagtails from Mr. W. J. Williams, four Japanese Pullets 

 from Colonel J. G. Adamson, ten Wild Ducks from Mr. J. Tones, 

 two young Barn Owls from Mr, M. Colgan, a pair of Long-tailed 

 Weaver birds from Mr. T. Bennett, a young Gannet from Mr. M. 

 M'Keown, a Jay and a Starling from Mr. W. W. Despard, four Domino 

 Finches from Miss Cree, two Kestrels from Mr. G. J. Hemmingway, a 

 Budgerigar from Mrs. Cullinan, and seventeen young Toads from Mr. E. 

 Pelly. There have also been received in exchange from Sydney, a 

 valuable collection of Australian marsupials, comprising four Brush- 

 tailed Kangaroos, a pair of Black-tailed Wallabies, a pair of Wombats and 

 three Vulpine Phalangers. These interesting beasts have been placed 

 in the enclosures of the Haughton House. 



A very serious loss has been sustained by the death early in October 

 of the splendid female Giraffe which has lived in the Gardens for several 

 years. The animal succumbed to a sudden and unexpected attack of 

 illness despite the unwearied efforts of the vSuperintendent and staff of 

 keepers and the skill of Professor Mettam. 



