THE ROYAL NATURAL HISTORY. 103 



a settler who started one evening to ride to a dance at a neigh- 

 bour's house : — " It is a dark, windy evening, but there is a con- 

 venient bridle-path through the dense thicket of giant thistles, and 

 striking it he puts his horse into a swinging gallop. Unhappily, 

 the path is already occupied by a skunk, invisible in the darkness, 

 that, in obedience to the promptings of its insane instinct, refuses 

 to get out of it, until the flying hoofs hit it and send it like a well- 

 kicked football into the thistles. But the forefeet of the horse, up 

 as high as his knees perhaps, have been sprinkled, and the rider^ 

 after coming out into the open, dismounts and walks away twenty 

 yards from his animal, and literally smells himself all over, and 

 with a feeling of profound relief pronounces himself clean. Not 

 the minutest drop of the diabolical spray has touched his dancing- 

 shoes. Springing into the saddle, he proceeds to his journey's 

 end and is warmly welcomed by his host. In a little while people 

 begin exchanging whispers and significant glances. . . . Ladies 

 cough and put their handkerchiefs to their noses, and presently 

 begin to feel faint and retire from the room. Our hero begins to 

 notice that there is something wrong, and presently discovers its 

 cause. He, unhappily, has been the last person to remark that 

 familiar but most abominable odour, rising like a deadly exhalation 

 from the floor, conquering all other odours, and every moment 

 becoming more powerful. A drop has touched his shoes after all." 

 Our space is now exhausted, but we must call attention to the 

 descriptions of the general characteristics of the several orders, 

 which Mr. Lydekker has made a special feature. 



The work is profusely illustrated with most excellent woodcuts. 

 We give on the opposite page a figure representing Brown Bears on 

 the march, in which the awkward and ludicrous movements of the 

 animals are admirably depicted. The plates are also extremely 

 good, with the exception, in our opinion, of the plate of Fallow 

 Deer, which does not come up quite to the standard of the others, 

 and we cannot say that we quite admire the plate of the Indian 

 Elephant, whose forequarters appear to be a little too thin for his 

 height. But these, perhaps, may be mere trivialities. The highest 

 praise we can give to Mr. L3'dekker is that we consider the work 

 should be on every naturalist's table. 



