May II, 191 1] 



NATURE 



151 



standards of time are adopted, so it is natural to 

 adapt one's watch to the new conditions when reach- 

 ing Germany. By the daylight-saving scheme, ii.o 

 Greenwich time would be called 12.0 noon during the 

 summer season ; that is to say, the sun would be con- 

 sidered to have reached its highest point for the day 

 an hour before it actually does so. Of course, we 

 remember that there is a difference between apparent 

 time and mean time, but the variation of the equation 

 of time does not effect the affairs of everyday life. 

 When, however, it is proposed that Parliament 

 should grant powers to enable the people of the 

 United Kingdom to pretend that during summer 

 months noon at Greenwich corresponds to noon in 

 !he neighbourhood of Berlin, it is time the absurditv 

 of the scheme was exposed. The scheme is unworthy 

 of the dignity of a grjeat nation, and if it were made 

 compulsory by legisMfibn, it would be a monument 

 to national fiacciditv. We cannot think that the 



to weigh considerably against the idea of the former 

 existence in the country of a wild race. 



The article on grouse disease, to which Dr, H. B. 

 Fantham contributes the section on the coccidiosis of 

 young birds, has been written specially for the pre- 

 sent edition, and is therefore thoroughly up to date, 

 although the author is careful to add that many of 

 the inferences and conclusions referred to must be 

 regarded as more or less provisional. This contribu- 

 tion, which is well and profusely illustrated, is 

 thoroughly worthy of its author, but since Dr. Ship- 

 ley's investigations into grouse disease have been 

 already reported in Nature, further mention is un- 

 necessary. 



The other articles on natural history subjects dis- 

 play that pleasing variety of treatment to which allu- 

 sion was made in my review of the first volume. For 

 instance, whereas Mr. Bryden, in the article "Deer" 

 (which appears to have been compiled from the " Deer 



lura Hurtcbeesl and Grant s Gazelles. 



'iovernment will lend its support to proposals which 

 involve more international consequences than the 

 promoters are aware of, and would make us the 

 laughing-stock of the enlightened people of the world. 



THE ^E\V ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SPORT.' 



FROM a biological point of view two articles in 

 this issue are especially noteworthy, namely, one 

 on the .\rabian horse, by the well-known breeder, 

 Mr. W. Scawen Blunt, and one on grouse disease, by 

 Dr. Shipley. The former stands as it was in the 

 first edition, the author stating that he has practically 

 nothing to add or alter. Its special interest lies in 

 the fact that the author still maintains the theory 

 that the .Arab horse, in place of being a compara- 

 tively late importation, originally existed in a wild 

 condition in the comparatively desert districts of Nejd 

 and tlie central plateaus of Yemen. On the other 

 hand, such historical evidence as exists does not 

 indicate that the natives of .Arabia were in possession 

 of tame horses at a very early period, and this seems 



1 The Encyclopaedia of Sport and Games. Kdited by the Earl of 

 SufTolk and Berl<.shtre. A new and enlarged edition. Vol. ii. Crocodile 

 Shooting — Hound Breeding. Pp. viii + 448. (London: W. Heinemanii, 

 1191.) Price io.f. bt/. net (abroad t2s. M. net). 



NO. 2167, VOL. 86] 



of All Lands "), treats his subject almost exclusively 

 from a zoological point of view, the wrijers of 

 ■' Elephant " confine themselves mainly or entirely to 

 the sporting aspect of their theme, making no refer- 

 ence to the local races of the African species. On 

 the other hand, in the article "Giraffe," Nlr. Bryden 

 does record most of the local forms of that species. 

 Need of revision in the article last mentioned is 

 evident from the repetition of the old statement (which 

 was not true previous to the discovery of the okapi) 

 that "the giraffe forms a distinct family of its own." 

 Neither is Mr. Selous quite faultless when writing of 

 the African elephant, since he repeats the old error 

 of this species being " somewhat less in bulk and 

 stature than either the mastodon or the mammoth." 

 Nomenclature is also, as in the first volume, distinctly 

 erratic, Mr. Bryden, in the article " Deer," denominat- 

 ing the Chilian guemal Mazama bisitlca, whereas 

 Mr. Hesketh Prichard, in the article "Guemal," 

 calls it Xenelaphus bisulctis. 



That the editor has endeavoured to bring the 

 biological articles up to date is, however, quite 

 evident, as, in addition to the already mentioned 

 article on grouse disease, there is one, by .Mr. Bryden, 

 on the .African forest-hog (Hylocharus), a genus 

 originally described in N.ati're, In this (effect he 



