248 



NATURE 



[April 20, 191 1 



•consideration based on personal study and experience. 

 The volunie contains many tables of statistics, and is 

 also provided with an exceih'nt index. 



" Enfjlish Woodlands and their Story," by Mr. 

 Houghton Townley, is an interestingly written and 

 well-illustrated work. The b(M)k is written more for the 

 forrst-lover and student of nature than for the 

 technical forester, but it may be warmly recommended 

 to all interested in any way with trees and forests. 

 The history, traditions, and associations of the old 

 English woodlands and forests are set forth in a most 

 fascinating manner. The laws of olden times, when 

 forests w^ere principally used for the chase, are in- 

 terestingly described, as well as all matters of his- 

 torical interest connected with the various forests of 

 England. Nothing could be more interesting than the 

 perusal of this work, which is written in .-i most 



The chalk formation, traceable from the north <j 

 Ireland to the Crimea, and from the siouth of Sw<d« 

 to Bordeaux, a distance of about 11,140 ijeogra; 

 miles in one direction, and 840 in the other, wi 

 characteristic cavities and the facility of sis 

 ing them by artificial means, naturally prov 

 tations for prehistoric man; while in other ; 

 tufa, volcanic breccia, and sandstone took its ; 

 Palaeolithic man shows his artistic powers not unl 

 by graving representations of the men and fauna n 

 the period on ivory and bone, but in the v 

 ings of shelters like those at l^es Comb.n 

 Font-de-Gaume he provides a veritable piiiui' 

 lery. In a cave recently explored have beer 

 covered actual pieces of sculpture of extinct 1 

 in the round. The preservation of these fresco* - 

 sculptures is due to the fart that the caves 



The Ruined Monastery in the Rocks, Nottingham Park. Krom " CHff Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe." 



readaMc fashion, and, thou^li not intended as a text- 

 book on forestry, its perusal cannot fail to be of 

 the greatest interest to all foresters and those con- 

 nected with the management of woodlands, as well 

 as all forest-lovers and students of nature. 



THE TROGLODYTES OF EUROPE.' 

 T N his excursions into the byways of archaeology 

 ■*• and primitive culture Mr. Baring-Gould is 

 always interesting and instructive, and in his present 

 bodk, dealing with the cave-dwelling troglodytes and 

 the clilT castles of Europe, he has found a subject 

 hitherto little explored and well suited to his powers. 

 The moral of the book, though it is nowhere clearly 

 defined, is the essential unity of human culture, man 

 always adapting to his use the material which his 

 environment supplies. 



^ " Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe." By S. Baring-Gould. 

 n>. 324- (London : Seeley andCa, Ltd.. igii). Price i2f. M. net. 



NO. 2164, VOL. 86] 



been sealed up from time immemorial, and subjected 

 to no invasion by man or beast or to any change 

 of air or temperature ; further, the primitive lamps 

 fed with melted fat could not produce smoke suffi-_ 

 cient to discolour ceiling or wall. The genuinenes 

 of these paintings is assured by the circumstance that 

 some are partially glazed over and some half obliter- 

 ated by stalagmitic deposits. This prehistoric savage 

 type of life survives among modern cave-dwellers in 

 Cornwall and in the strange family of troglodytes 

 describe by Sir A. Mitchell, who discovered them 

 dwelling in a state of wretched squalor on the shore 

 of Wick Bay. Among subterranean dwellings the 

 wonderful labyrinthine town ascribed to Og, king 

 of Bashan, at Edrei, in the Hauran. is perhaps the 

 most remarkable example. The best parallel to it in 

 Europe is that strange French town, Tr6o, on the 

 river Le Loir, which traverses the fertile upland 

 plain of Beauce, and falls into La Loire at Angers. 

 Here the whole height is like a sponge, perforated 



