i894. SOME NEW BOOKS. 461 



Index Kewensis. 



Towards the end of October the third part of Jackson and Hooker's 

 " Index Kewensis " appeared. This part ranges from Kihlihia to 

 Psidium, and includes the large and difficult genera of grasses, 

 Paspalnm, Paniciivi, and Poa, the synonymy of which is most com- 

 plicated, and for which there has been no guide beyond the unsatis- 

 factory monograph of Steudel. The volume bears the signature 

 " Vol. II.," and is paged 1-640. We do not see any advantage in this 

 new pagination in the middle of a reference book, as it only causes 

 trouble in quotation. The work has already been referred to at 

 length in this Journal (Natural Science, iii., p. 379), and all we 

 need do now is to express our admiration at the rapidity with which 

 the Oxford University Press and Messrs. Jackson and Hooker are 

 passing their proofs through the press. 



The "Orient Guide." 



This new edition of the " Orient Guide " is the fifth, the first having 

 been issued in 1884. As each edition has consisted of from 10,000 to 

 15,000 copies, there must be a good many " Orient Guides" scattered 

 about in the world. In the present issue a considerable number of 

 alterations are to be found, some, but not many of them, being im- 

 provements. The opening chapter is no longer an account of the 

 principal ships, but an essay by the newly-knighted Sir Wemyss 

 Reid on ocean travelling in general. The medical chapter is omitted, 

 as are Mrs. Henry Fawcett's delightful notes on Italy and Germany. 

 Nearly as interesting was Mr. W. B. Richmond's account of Greece, 

 of which only the Athens fragment remains. An account of the 

 Australian colonies by Mr. Matthew Macfie has been added, and 

 forms an attractive feature. Mr. Middleton Wake's exhaustive list 

 of birds likely to be seen at sea is supplemented by a short descrip- 

 tion of Australian zoology. There seems to be some confusion on 

 p. 257 between Bauer's parrakeet and Barnard's, v/hose name is spelt 

 wrongly as Bernardius. There is quite a little treatise on the 

 mariner's compass, a difficult subject, but clearly and simply explained 

 by Commander Hull, R.N. The Rev. W. J. Loftie, the editor of the 

 volume, must have had a laborious task in cutting and fitting together 

 the varied mass of information of which we have given a brief epitome. 

 He is to be congratulated upon the compact result. 



Mr. J. W. Taylor is publisliing a Monograph of the Land and 

 Fresh Water Mollusca of the British Isles, of which the first part 

 has just been received by us. It contains abundant illustration, and 

 each part will be sold at the moderate cost of five shillings. The 

 leading malacologists have been freely consulted in preparing the 

 volume, which will doubtless be found of great use. In the circular 

 which we have before us, some MS. opinions of eminent naturalists, 

 such as the Rev. Canon Norman and the Rev. A. H. Cooke, are quoted. 

 We hope to review the first volume when completed. 



The first volume of the Cambridge Natural History is toappear, we 

 are informed, either before or just about Christmas. This is to be 

 upon the Mollusca, and is written by one of our foremost authorities 

 on the group, the Rev. A. H. Cooke. The recent Brachiopoda are 

 to be treated of by Mr. Shipley, one of the editors of the work ; the 

 fossil Brachiopoda by Mr. F. Cowper-Reed ; the Polychaet worms 

 by Dr. Benham ; the Oligochaetes by Mr. Beddard, and other 

 groups by other specialists. 



