l 9°3 The Field Naturalises Library Si 



botany, zoology, astronomy, &c. The reading exercises deal with a 

 great variety of topics, the object of this being to awaken interest in 

 observing nature rather than to communicate facts, — to open the way for 

 later teaching rather than to force it prematurely. The result is a great 

 improvement on the idiotic sentences so often to be found in the first 

 reading-books so frequently put into the hands of children who have 

 just learnt to read simple words. The illustrations are plain and to the 

 point. Miss Stickney has done the children a good turn in giving 

 them these early text-books. 



Agricultural Zoology. By Dr J. Ritzema Bos. London : 

 Methuen. Price 3s. 6d. 



This is one of the volumes of the Thaer Library, written to provide 

 agricultural colleges with a condensed review of the entire animal 

 kingdom as it specially affects agriculture. It is translated by Professor 

 J. R. Ainsworth Davis, and has an introduction by the late Miss E. A. 

 Ormerod. 



The author, being confined to a certain size, has had to condense his 

 remarks within a rigid compass ; the domesticated farm animals are 

 omitted, — they are dealt with by the lecturer on stock-breeding, in those 

 institutions which the book is designed for, — and the animal foes of 

 agriculture are dealt with in more detail in the author's larger work, 

 ' Animal Foes and Friends.' 



In the pages of the present volume a very serviceable amount of 

 information will be found to be embodied. The chief characteristics 

 of the animal kingdom are given, from the Vertebrata to the Arthropoda. 

 The Vermes follow : the eel-worms, which injure crops so much, and the 

 intestinal tapeworms and the liver-fluke, receiving special attention. 

 The Invertebrata, lower in the scale than those just mentioned, are 

 but briefly mentioned. More than 100 pages of the book are devoted 

 to insect pests, and this is by far the best part of the work. A hand- 

 book such as this, in which the agricultural reader can turn at pleasure 

 to the history of any common farm animal — be it Weasel, Vole, Wood- 

 pigeon, Rabbit, Slow-worm, or Frog — in addition to the insects, ought 

 obviously to be of no little service to those for whom it is intended. 

 The book contains 155 illustrations. The list of pests in the appendix, 

 classified according to their habitat, is not the least useful item in the 

 book. 



The Natural History of Animals. By Prof. J. R. Ainsworth 

 Davis. London : The Gresham Publishing Company. In eight 

 half-volumes. Price 7s. each. 



We have received the first half-volume of this illustrated work on 

 Natural History, the succeeding parts of which are promised quarterly. 

 Judging by the first part, field naturalists who are thinking of adding a 

 complete work of this kind to their library will be well advised to sub- 

 scribe for the series. We shall have opportunity as the volumes come 

 to hand of detailed notice, and would simply now indicate the plan and 

 scope of the work. Prof. Davis notes that "signs are not wanting that 



VOL. II. — NO. 5. F 



