1899] POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY 69 
blackish-brown in colour, but irregularly spotted and banded with white, the 
costal portion variegated with green and pink, and expand fully eight inches.” 
“The colour of the body in many Phasmidae may change from brown in early 
life to green, subsequently returning to the brown tint. If this be owing to the 
presence of chlorophyll or other plant-juices among the insect-tissues, its ex- 
planation is not far to seek.” “Sir John Hunter” is a slip that probably 
expresses admiration for his genius. 
The illustrations of the insects deserve high praise, and the printer has done 
his work well. The book fills a place not previously occupied in the literature 
of entomology, and places within reach of English readers much varied informa- 
tion. The quaint forms and admirable disguises of the leaf-insects and “ walk- 
ing sticks,” the methods of capturing prey employed by the mantis, the beauty 
of colour, the methods of producing sounds, and many other curious traits, are 
all described here, and should attract students to the Orthoptera, which rarely 
get the attention they deserve. FEO ee 

In the February number of the American Geologist Mr. W. 8. Gresley throws 
some “ Side-light upon Coal Formation,” in adducing evidence that many coal- 
seams have not undergone any appreciable vertical compression since the time 
of their formation from decaying vegetation. He also points out that when 
coal arises from drifted deposits laid out in water, the shale band occurring 
above the coal may represent that which originally underlay the plant-remains. 
Such reversals by the agency of denudation, the materials of the highest original 
bed becoming laid down first in the new area of deposition, then those of the bed 
below, then those of the next bed, and so on, are of course not uncommon in the 
geological series. 
Mr. J. B. Woodworth writes of the classification of glacial deposits, laying 
useful stress on the association of ‘‘sands and gravels” with the melting of ice- 
masses in situ. In introducing one or two new technical terms he, almost by 
miracle, avoids the use of Greek, a language which has preponderated in the 
modern geological literature of America, to the confusion and astonishment of 
Eastern readers. 
Mr. Hovey’s report of the winter meeting of the Geological Society of 
America contains a number of suggestive abstracts. Mr. Walcott’s announce- 
ment (p. 99) of ‘plates of crustaceans closely related to Eurypterus” in the 
Algonkian beds of Montana, 4000 feet below the base of the Cambrian, 
will be received by palaeontologists with respectful watchfulness. Possibly 
the lover of thrust-planes will also want to have his say in the matter. At the 
present time students of variation in igneous magmas will read with interest 
Mr, Emerson’s observations on absorption by granite, quoted on p. 105. 
In the March number of the Waturalist Mr. O. Grabham gives an account 
of the bats found in Yorkshire, with notes on their habits in confinement. The 
absence of attention to recent emendations in nomenclature is as conspicuous 
in this as in an earlier paper on British bats noticed in these columns. Our 
own opinion with regard to such emendations is, that it is frequently desirable 
to “let sleeping dogs lie”; but that when they have once been made by a 
naturalist of recognised eminence it is the duty of humbler folk to follow suit, 
and not to presume to have opinions of their own on such subjects. 
We are grateful to the editor of /inland for sending us a copy of the first 
number of his beautifully printed, admirably written magazine. The subjects 
with which it deals, though of enthralling interest, can scarcely claim to be 
touched on in a scientific journal, except in so far as every worker in science 
thereby confesses himself a lover and an advocate of freedom, education, and the 
right to know and think. The offices of /inland are at 106 Victoria Street, 
London, 8.W., and the price is 3d. a number. 
