268 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 
contains the account of a remarkable anemone, Acrozoanthus australiae, 
that builds itself a home on the outside of the tubes of a nereid worm. 
This the worm does not like, and stretches out its habitation in another 
direction. The anemone, equal to the emergency, follows the new 
branch, whereupon the worm strikes out again like a doubling hare. 
The process continues till the anemone secures its inevitable victory, 
and results in the formation of a singularly regular zig-zag polyp- 
stock. Many of these polyparies grow side by side on submerged 
rocks, sticking upwards when covered by water but hanging down 
when exposed by the ebb of the tide like the corkscrew ringlets of an 
old maid. We feel it our duty to note that in this chapter another 
new species of coral is proposed, “ provisionally associated with the 
title of Zurbinaria revoluta.”’ Some day naturalists will recognise the 
futility of excusing their new names on the ground of their “ provi- 
sional” nature. At present the phrase is generally diagnostic of the 
amateur, and should be shunned by so accomplished a naturalist as 
Mr Saville-Kent. 
Insect oddities and vegetable vagaries are the titles of the last two 
chapters, to which space does not permit further allusion. It is, how- 
ever, in these that some of the most beautiful illustrations of the 
volume are contained, notably of the shy-flowering cacti. Of the 
other illustrations, those of most interest to the naturalist are of the 
animals taken under water; and in this new branch of photography 
the author has made good progress since we first had the pleasure of 
calling attention to his efforts. The group of holothurians (Colochirus 
anceps), 18 a notable and instructive example of this genre A 
word of praise is due to Messrs Waterlow, whose reproductions and 
printing do the fullest justice to the art of the author. The chromo- 
plates are ambitious, but, with the exception of plate 4, representing 
a madrepore-reef, and Mr Frohawk’s drawing of Chlamydosaurus, they 
(lo not appeal to us. The attempt to reproduce the vivid colours of 
the animals results in glaring masses devoid. of life and natural 
chiaroscuro. It is with the camera pure and simple that the author 
is most successful, and he has learned the art of applying the scissors 
to his photographs with the happiest results. We wish, for his own 
sake, that he would apply those useful instruments to his prose. His 
golden rule is: never use one syllable when a word of four syllables 
is to hand, never use one word when six will do, and don’t bother too 
much about the meaning of your phrases. When he wants to tell us 
that a certain lizard will eat any food, he says “the gastronomic pro- 
clivities of Trachysaurus are essentially omnivorous,” and it amuses 
him to speak of a hansom cab as “that indispensable anticlimax of 
British Citizenship.” To photograph an animal is “to immortalise it 
with the camera,” an expression which shows that the author properly 
appreciates his own work. Neither can we fail to be struck by the 
number of slips in the names of people, and even in some of the long 
words so dear to him. Thus we find H. F. Blandford for W. T. 
Blanford, J. D. for G. D. Haviland, R. C. for A. C. Haddon; Gunther 
for Giinther, Rontgen for Réntgen; R. M. Johnston of Hobart is called 
Johnson, though he must be well known to Mr Saville-Kent: even 
four of the officers at the very museum where the author was formerly 
an assistant are incorrectly referred to; Ipswich is confused with 
