232 The Field Naturalist' s Quarterly Aug. 



things; he is far more interested in what things do." "Nature study 

 is not synthetic ; it takes for its central thought the child, and for its 

 field work the child's natural environment. The child, through nature 

 study, learns to know the life-history of the violet growing in his own 

 dooryard, and the fascinating story of the robin nesting in the cornice 

 of his own porch. The differences of this violet and this robin from 

 other violets and other robins in the world he considers not at all." " In 

 this book the plant stands before the child as a living being with needs 

 like his own. He realises that the young plant must be fed ; it must 

 grow ; it is no longer a matter of commonplace ; it is replete with in- 

 terest, because it is the struggle of an individual to live. How does it 

 get its food ? How does it grow ? It is of little moment whether its 

 leaves are lanceolate or palmate ; it is a question of what the leaves do 

 for the plant." 



The sentences quoted are from the introduction to this book, and are 

 written by Anna Comstock, of Cornell University, for the author. In 

 our opinion they go right to the foundation of true teaching of nature 

 study for children. Let the child learn to look upon the plant or ani- 

 mal first of all as a living entity, and later on it will be time enough 

 to introduce him to the technicalities of minute structure and precise 

 classification. We strongly advise parents who are endeavouring to 

 inculcate a love of nature study in their children to proceed on the lines 

 of this book, which for plant life will be found an excellent introduction. 

 The work should be carefully studied by all whose duty it is to instruct 

 in nature study in plants. 



Invertebrate Zoology. By Henry Sherring Pratt, Ph.D. Boston 

 and London : Ginn & Co. Price 6s. 

 This book is evidently particularly adapted for Professor Pratt's own 

 course of Invertebrate Zoology, or at any rate for a course of Inverte- 

 brate Zoology in America. Nevertheless, teachers and students in this 

 country will find it of use. A very useful portion is the appendix, which 

 consists of the Classification of Animals, Short Definitions of the Principal 

 Groups of the Animal Kingdom, and a Glossary of Terms. Unfortun- 

 ately in parts of this appendix accuracy seems to have been made sub- 

 servient to brevity. Thus a nephridium is defined as " a urinary tubule 

 in annelids," whereas nephridia are not confined to annelids, and are, 

 moreover, tubules opening typically both into the body cavity and to the 

 exterior. Then an otocyst is said to be "an organ of hearing," which is, 

 to say the least of it, somewhat doubtful. Many regard the otocyst as 

 being concerned in equilibration. The Anthozoa should not be classified 

 as a subdivision of the Scyphozoa, but as a separate class of the 

 Cnidaria. ALolis is given as the example of the Opisthobranchiata ; 

 Aplysia would be much more typical. In the same way Synapfa, 

 which is the example given of the Holothuroidea, is one of the most 

 modified members of that class, inasmuch as the five typical zones of 

 tube feet are entirely wanting. Possibly the author regards the appendix 

 as the least important part of the book, but it is a decidedly useful part, 

 which might be much improved by alteration of a few such points as 



