3o8 NATURAL SCIENCE. Oct., 



the decomposition of carbon dioxide and water by chlorophyll in the 

 presence of sunlight) ; respiration and metabolism ; geotropism ; 

 heliotropism ; warmth ; growth ; movement ; relation of plants to 

 animals. The last-named is treated in a very perfunctory manner, 

 only three simple experiments being suggested, whereas it is a subject 

 which offers an almost infinite scope, and is, moreover, of the highest 

 interest. The book is nicely printed, though misprints are not rare, 

 and sentences are occasionally a little involved. We think, too, it is 

 unnecessary to speak of sodium chloride as cooking-salt in connec- 

 tion with plant nutrition. The apparatus required for the various 

 experiments is fairly simple and will be found in any moderately well- 

 equipped high school or college laboratory. As is suggested in the 

 introduction, good plant material is an important part of the equip- 

 ment, and it is therefore essential that every laboratory undertaking 

 the work should have ready access to a greenhouse or small botanical 

 garden. 



The Carboniferous Insects of Commentry (Allier), France. 



The Coal-measures of Commentry, Central France, have in recent 

 years, under the skilful exploration of their director and engineer, 

 M. Henry Fayol, yielded a valuable collection of fossils illustrating 

 the fauna and flora of the Upper Carboniferous period. 



The specimens were placed in the hands of specialists ; the plant 

 remains were delivered over to MM. Renault and Zeiller, who have 

 already published the results of their examinations, so likewise the 

 fishes, by Dr. Emile Sauvage, and the insects were entrusted to 

 M. Chas. Brongniart, of the Natural History Museum, Paris. 



M. Brongniart has now completed his share of the work, and has 

 embodied his results in a monograph embracing Neuroptera, Orthop- 

 tera, and Homoptera. 



The work forms a volume of about 450 pages in 4to, and an atlas 

 of 37 plates in folio. 



Sixty new genera and 100 new species are described. 



The work is accompanied by a detailed examination of the nerva- 

 tion of the living Neuroptera, Orthoptera, and Fulgoridae. 



The value of this publication, and its interest to palaeontologists 

 and entomologists tracing out ancestral forms cannot be overstated, 

 as it gives an insight into an insect fauna rich beyond compare, and 

 proves that those " forests primaeval " were neither tenantless nor 

 voiceless. 



Our knowledge of palaeozoic insects has been hitherto scanty, 

 owing to the rarity of specimens and the fragmentary condition, for 

 the most part, in which their fossilised remains have been found. 

 This has all been changed by the remarkable deposit at Commentry, 

 which has yielded ten times more specimens than all other localities 

 in Europe and America conjoined. Not only are the specimens 

 more abundant, but they are found in a state of entirety and preserva- 

 tion most advantageous for study — a fact no doubt due to the fine 

 matrix in which they are embedded and the conditions under which 

 they were entombed. 



Mr, S. H. Scudder, the eminent American entomologist (in Amer. 

 Jouvn. Sci., Feb., 1894), writing on these insects and M. Brongniart's 

 drawings, which he has recently had the opportunity of examining in 

 Paris (facts which I can confirm from my own inspection of them 

 two or three years ago), says: " I have had the opportunity, through 



