Vol. XXVIII 

 1911 



1 A Plea for " Notes and Queries " in the Naturalist. 8; 



The v/ant of such a means of recording facts impressed itself 

 on me at the April meeting of the Club, during the discussion 

 following Mr. Hardy's paper on the mole cricket and wasp, 

 when a number of unrecorded observations were voiced by 

 members, and this is only one instance of man}/ that could 

 be mentioned. By way of a start for the " Query " column, I 

 w^ould like to ask : — 



(i) How are pools that generally dry up during summer 

 re-stocked with the fish known to boys as " silver-fish " 

 (a species of carp, I beheve) ? Can the ova resist drought ^ 

 I don't think the theory that the ova are brought to the pools 

 by water-fowl will hold good, as fish are found in ponds that 

 are too small to tempt water-fowl to visit them, and the newly- 

 hatched fish may be found in the ponds a very short time after 

 water has again accumulated in them. 



(2) Why some orchids, such as Lyperanthus nigricans, are 

 found abundantly in places where scrub has been burnt off, 

 and where they were only occasionally met with previous to 

 the burning- off ? 



Trusting the suggestion will meet with your approval, I am, 

 Yours, &c., POND HUNTER. 



[The suggestion of "Pond Hunter" is a good one. Queries and 

 observations are invited from other contributors, which will be dealt 

 with as fully as possible. — Ed. Vict. Nat.] 



" Photography for Bird-Lovers." — This is the title of an 

 eminently useful book of 125 pages, forwarded to us by the 

 publishers, Witherby and Co., Holborn, London. In it the 

 author, Mr. Bentley Beetham, F.Z.S., deals in a practical manner 

 with bird photography in its various branches. Separate 

 chapters are devoted to Apparatus, Nest Photography, Photo- 

 graphing Young Birds, Birds in Flight, Photographing in 

 Colour, and in Cinematography, &c. In connection with photo- 

 graphing birds in captivity, he says: — "The great value of 

 pictures of specimens in confinement lies in the accurate repre- 

 sentation of the bird as a creature, of its markings, and its form. 

 . . . We want a large, bold picture of a bird for reference, 

 one giving at a glance the general appearance of its species, and 

 on a more careful examination the most minute detail of its 

 plumage." He remarks that all such photographs should be 

 distinctly marked as from captive birds, for not only have such 

 photographs been passed off as studies of wild-life, but what is a 

 thousand times worse pictures of stuffed birds have been made 

 to serve the same purpose, and in the interests of the hobby of 

 bird photography all such impositions should be exposed. The 

 volume is splendidly illustrated with sixteen full-page plates, 

 examples of work done by the methods recommended. The 

 work is published at five shillings, and should be of great value 

 to the photographer of nature subjects, even if not birds. 



