i8 95 . SOME NEW BOOKS. 347 



by preference Swedish specimens. This makes the book of great 

 value for comparative studies, and we should advise English geologists, 

 even if they do not read Swedish, at least to examine the illustrations 

 and tables, for the volume is full of original or otherwise inaccessible 

 material. We might particularly point to the chapters relating to the 

 Cambro-Silurian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Quaternary, and to the 

 illustrations and remarks about fossil plants throughout. It should be 

 remembered that Professor Nathorst, though well-known as a field- 

 geologist, is almost more celebrated as a student of fossil plants. So 

 far as we can call to mind, no previous geological manual has been 

 written by a botanist, and the botanical evidence, therefore, has been 

 generally overlooked or misinterpreted. The book is provided with 

 an exhaustive index, and a classified bibliography of nine closely- 

 printed pages. 



Dr. Ch. Janet has sent us a series of papers on ants, published in 

 the Comptes Rendus, Mcmoives de la Societe Zoologique de France, and 

 Memoires de la Societe Academique de I'Oise. Two other papers, from 

 the Comptes Rendus, will be of some interest to those who, like our 

 contributor, Mr. Latter, study the habits of wasps, and their re- 

 sistance to unfavourable weather. They deal with the construction 

 of the nest, the order of formation of its cells, and the preservation 

 of heat within it. This last is a point of' much importance, for if the 

 temperature be reduced, the development of the eggs may be in- 

 definitely arrested. 



Another paper from Dr. Janet appeals to a very different class of 

 readers, nameby, the collectors and students of fossils. The Tertiary 

 Bracheux Sands contain beautiful fossils, but, unfortunately, these 

 are exceedingly friable. Dr. Janet shows how, by imitating a natural 

 process, this powdery limestone may be transformed into solid gypsum, 

 and the specimens extracted with safety. A strong solution of 

 sulphate of lime, slightly acidified with sulphuric acid, is gently 

 poured over the fossiliferous sand, thus the fossil is transformed into 

 sulphate of lime without being in any way dissolved, and without 

 being ruptured by the escape of gas. The note is contained in 

 Comptes Rendus de la Societe Geologique de France. 



We understand that Messrs. Macmillan will publish early in May a 

 work upon Birds by Mr. F. W. Headley. It will consist of some 

 four hundred pages, octavo, with abundant illustrations, largely in 

 the form of plates. The book will be suitable for those who are not 

 experts in bird anatomy, though its treatment is strictly scientific. 

 Great weight is laid upon the anatomy of the organs of flight ; but 

 such general topics as song and colour are dealt with also, though not 

 at such great length. 



The Clarendon Press will shortly issue a " Monograph of the 

 Oligochaeta " by Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. This is to be a quarto 

 volume of nearly 800 pages, with five plates and a number of wood- 

 cuts. Our knowledge of the structure and of the species of the 

 terrestrial worms has increased so largely of late that a general 

 treatise embodying what is known upon the subject is much to be 

 desired. 



