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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



A Popular History of British Mosses. 

 By R. M. Stark. Second Edition. Rout- 

 ledge, Warne, and Co. — This is one of the 

 best of the elegant series of popular manuals 

 originally published by Mr. Lovell Reeve, 

 and to folks who love rambling will be in- 

 valuable. Mr. Stark is a painstaking and 

 experienced collector of botanical curiosi- 

 ties, and quite a master of muscology. 

 The plates and descriptions in this work 

 will enable beginners in moss-collecting 

 to name their specimens, and the introduc- 

 tory chapters furnish an intelligible and 

 faithful key to the scientific study of 

 mosses. 



A Spring and Summer in Lapland. By 

 an Old Bushman. Groombridge and 

 Sons. — There are few among the new 

 books "of the season" which bear about 

 them such a freshness of life as this re- 

 cord of the "Old Bushman's" Scandi- 

 navian wanderings. At last "we hear 

 something better of Lnpland than that it 

 produces lichens and reindeer, for here are 

 glorious pictures of its forests, fiords, 

 mountains, mosses, and the'myriad crea- 

 tures that inhabit them. For the orni- 

 thologist here are some very new and 

 interesting sketches of Lapland birds, and 

 for naturalists and sportsmen of every 

 grade some glorious reminiscences of 

 woodcraft and adventure, and observation 

 in a country unfrequented by rose-water 

 travellers, and still beyond the range of 

 Bradshaw and the electric telegraph. 



The Wars of Wapsburgh. By the 

 Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe." 

 Groombridge and Sons. — The title of this 

 book is an enigma, and we doubt if it is 

 right to give our readers a solution of it. 

 We took it up, supposing we had a charm- 

 ing story by one of the best storytellers of 

 the day, and we were not disappointed, 

 though the story proved to be very dif- 

 ferent to what we anticipated. It is, in 

 fact, a book of natural history, and the 

 subject is wasps, the story of whose ways 

 and means and instincts is woven into as 

 jauuty and brisk and fanciful a narrative 

 as ever was penned. The printing and 

 embellishing of this book are in such 

 exquisite taste that it must take a leading 

 place among the New Year's gifts, and 

 ought to be first on the list in making 

 a selection for young people. 

 lV3 Micmscnpe Teachings. By the Hon. 

 Mrs. Ward. Groombridge. — This is a 

 companion volume to " Telescope Teach- 

 ings " by the same gifted author, and is in 

 no whit a less meritorious performance, 



which is perhaps as high praise as we 

 need bestow upon it. There are thou- 

 sands of good microscopes locked up by 

 their possessors, who in a fit of microscopy 

 have bought the instrument, and then 

 found the using of it too much for them. 

 Let all such buy" Microscope Teachings," 

 and bring out the instrument again, and 

 they may say in the words of Blanco 

 White — " Creation widens on man's 

 view." 



Try and Try again. By Old Jona- 

 than, W. Macintosh. — Those who have 

 read " Try " by Old Jonathan will like 

 this book, as carrying the record of 

 personal experiences in the taming 

 of men a few steps farther than they 

 know of already. It is a good book for 

 New Year's day, and any other day 

 throughout the year, to tell of the world's 

 needs, and the provisions of Providence for 

 supplying them, through individual ef- 

 forts which of themselves appear all but 

 contemptible. Jonathan's pages glow with 

 the fervour of true Christian love, though 

 his subjects are for the most part dark and 

 forbidding. One thing we learn from it, 

 that man's vice and ignorance serve oft- 

 times to give distinctness to what is best 

 in man, as the darkness of night is need- 

 ful to show forth the glorv of the stars. 



The Garden Oracle, 1864. Edited by 

 Shirley Hibberd, F.R.H.S. Groom- 

 bridge and Sons. — This year's * Oracle " 

 contains the completest selection of plants, 

 flowers, fruits, etc., ever yet published in 

 any almanac, and a complete list of suc- 

 culents to bloom every day throughout the 

 year. We trust the efforts we have made 

 to render this work worthy of the exten- 

 sive circulation it enjoys will meet with 

 the approbation of our numerous friends 

 and supporters. Among the articles are a 

 few hints which we believe to be invalu- 

 able. 



The City Diary and Almanac, 1864. 

 Collingridge, City Press. — A capital idea. 

 It is the neatest, cheapest, most compen- 

 dious, business-like, and complete of all 

 the shilling diaries — neither too large for 

 the desk, nor too small for a full diary of 

 events and occurrences. It contains its 

 money value of writing and blotting paper, 

 and many lists of boards, committees, and 

 other public bodies, not usually found in 

 almanacs. 



A Portrait of Mr. Shirley Hibbfrd, 

 F.R.H.S., has been published by Messrs. 

 Groombridge. Price Is., free by post 

 Is. 2d. — It may be obtained through any 



