148 The Field Naturalisfs Quarterly May 



The Field Naturalist's Library. 



Reviews of Books, Transactions, Etc. 



Amphibia and Reptiles. Hans Gadow, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. 

 Pp. 668, medium 8vo. Being vol. viii. of the Cambridge Natural 

 History Series. London: Macmillan & Co. Price 17s. net. 

 "Those who care for the study of Amphibia and Reptiles — the Herpe- 

 tologists, to give them their scientific title — have never been numerous ; 

 but most of them have been serious students. One reason for the fact 

 that this branch of Natural History is not very popular is a prejudice 

 against creatures some of which are clammy and cold to the touch, and 

 some of which may be poisonous. But in reality these cold-blooded 

 creatures are of fascinating interest, provided they are studied properly." 

 Thus Dr Gadow in his preface to this magnificent work, to which it is a 

 great pleasure to direct the serious field naturalist's attention. We are 

 inclined to think that amphibians and lizards receive a good deal of 

 attention from field workers nowadays, and that the old prejudice against 

 them is gradually becoming a thing of the past, no doubt due to the fact 

 that the great interest of these creatures is more widely recognised. It 

 is quite impossible within our limits to attempt any detailed account of 

 this work, and it would be doing the book an injustice to select one 

 portion and ignore the rest. Moreover, we shall have reason to quote 

 its pages on many future occasions, as it must be regarded as the 

 authority on the subjects taken up. We cannot agree with some of the 

 statements made on the habits of our British species, as, for instance, 

 the statement on p. 540 that the chief food of the slow-worm "consists 

 of earthworms and snails." Considerable observation of slow-worms in 

 nature has convinced us that they will feed on the common garden slug 

 in preference to anything when they can get them. In cages, of course, 

 they have to feed on what is given them. Neither do we quite agree as 

 to the dietary of the ring snake, but these are simply differences of 

 observation. The detailed distribution in the British Isles does not 

 come within the scope of the work. Snake-venom is most interestingly 

 dealt with, and the illustrations show many species. We should be glad 

 to know that all field naturalists had this work on their shelves. 



A Text -Book of Zoology. G. P. Mudge, F.Z.S. Pp. 416. 

 London : Edward Arnold. Price 7s. 6d. 

 Field naturalists who are also serious students of Zoology will find 

 Mr Mudge's book a valuable guide to the study of certain types of 

 animals. The dog-fish, the frog, and the rabbit are taken as vertebrate 

 types, and compared with each other in all the various systems of the 

 body, the resemblances and differences being tabulated for each organ. 

 But for the ordinary field naturalist these chapters on morphology, pp. 

 30-2 1 6, are too advanced, and they will find certain other portions of the 



