346 



NATURE 



[January ii, 19 12 



jflviMi a sini^^lc case of enteric fever, the habit.s of the 

 house-fly may easily cause an outbreak of the diseast-, 

 which may have far-reaching consequences. As a 

 [M)ti'ntial disease-disseminator, at any rate, no other 

 Itritish ins«-ct is of anything likr the samr inijxirtamv 

 as the common house-fly; yet by thr British public its 

 potentialities are but dimly realistjd, if at all. 



In the volume under review, which "is not in- 

 tended to be a scientific monograph," Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, a well-known authority, provides a con- 

 venient and altogether admirable summary of existinj^ 

 knowledge concerning the subjects mentioned in the 

 title. The book is well arranged, simply yet forcibly 

 written, excellently illustrated, and provided with a 

 very complete "bibliographical list," while the results 

 obtained by other workers down to the date of publica- 

 tion are duly noted in the text. With regard to the range 

 of flight of house-flies — a subject of great practical 

 importance — it may be mentioned that the observations 

 of Copeman, Howlett, and Merriman, showing that 

 the insects are capable of flying to a distance of more 

 than 1400 yards, were published too late for inclu- 

 sion. Only two comments seem necessary by way of 

 criticism; in a subsequent edition, which we hope will 

 be called for. Dr. Howard should correct the unfor- 

 tunate slip on p. 18, where it is stated that the house- 

 fly's eggs vary in length " from one-sixth of an inch 

 to a little lont,"^'-'- " "'^p real length beiner one milli- 

 metre or a littl lid should on no accouni dmit 

 to provide an iiuux. If a hackneyed phrase may be 

 pardoned, "The House-fly — Disease Carrier" "sup- 

 plies a want," and a copy of it should not only find 

 a place on the shelves of every medical officer of 

 health and borough surveyor in the British Islands, 

 but should also be included in everv public librarv. 



E. E. A. 



MAN AND BEA>T l\ EASTERN AFRICA. 

 Man attd Beast i)i Eastern Ethiopia: from Oh.^irva- 

 tious made in BritisJi East Africa, Uganda, mul the 

 Sudan. By J. Bland-Sutton. Pp. xii + 419, with 

 204 engravings on wood. (London : Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 191 1.) Price 125. net. 



THIS work has been prepared with considerable 

 care, and the reviewer has no desire to be 

 captious; but he feels bound to say that there is little 

 in it which strikes him as being: due to 

 really orijjinal observations on the part of the 

 author; nor are the illustrations (all of them wood- 

 cuts) particularly novel, or, in the case of beasts and 

 birds, invariably accurate. They do not possess the 

 truth of photographs taken direct from nature. More- 

 over, in regard to these illustrations, many are from 

 photographs or drawings in other books ; and even 

 when the source of the original is mentioned (this is 

 not always done), one asks oneself why they should 

 be reproduced, since the original work is easily 

 accessible in libraries. 



In like manner, the text of the book is almost 

 entirely made up by extracts or paraphrases from the 

 published books or reports of H. M. Stanley. Joseph 

 Thomson, F. Elton, Speke, F. C. Selous, H. H. John- 

 ston, Newton Parker, J. F. Cunningham, various 

 NO. 2202. VOL. 88] 



members of the Church Missionary Society, C. 

 Hobley, R. J. .Stordy, Mr. and Mrs. Hinde, W. 

 Routledge, L. von Hohnel, A. H. Neumann, F. J. 

 Jackson, Drake-Brockman, J. E. S. Moor*'. Donald- 

 son .Smith, and others, whom it would I - to 

 enumerate. As an example of inapjx the 

 author has put in a drawing of Cohus cllipstprymi 

 the South .African waterbuck ; but he is obliged 

 explain that it is absent from the districts h* 

 describing, where the form of waterbuck is CoOui 

 defassa. The .African lung-flsh (Protopterus) is do 

 scribed as the Lepidosiren (the I^pidosiren being the 

 representative of this order which is found in the 

 waters of the .Amazon and its tributaries in S< 

 .America; the figures in the text, of course, are tl 

 of Protopterus). .a \ ' ■ 



These criticisms do not irnply that the book is 

 an exceedingly interesting one for persons who 

 unacquainted with the natives, beasts, birds, 

 reptiles of eastern equatorial .Africa. To those 

 desire a superficial acquaintance with this remark 

 fauna it will certainly be of use. but to be perf- 

 fair, it must be taken as the summary of other peoi 

 work and other people's observations, and cannf 

 described, as it is on the title-page, as being ' 

 observations made by the author, though una 

 the author's own journeys have taught him to a] 

 ciate the interest and the accuracy of the works ; 

 lished by hi< many predecessors. 



H. H. JOHNSTO 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 



(i) A Compendium of Aviation and .Itr. ._ 

 Balloons, Dirigibles, and Flying-machines. 

 Lieut. -Colonel H. Hoernes. With a prefact 

 J. H. Ledeboer. Pp. xi+179. (London: Charles 

 Griffin and Co., Ltd., 191 1.) Price 25. 6d. net. 

 (2) The Helicopter Flying-machine : an Account of 

 Previous Experiments, including an .Analysis of '.he 

 Author's Turbine Machine. By J. Rober 

 Porter. Pp. viii + 8o. (London : .ierona 

 Oflice, 1911.) Price 35. 6d. net. 

 (i) LiEUT.-CoLONEL H. HoER.VEs has, under 

 given above, produced a very readable popular hand- 

 book, and its low price and handy size should find it 

 a ready market. Its chief value is as an histo; 

 record, the section dealing with dirigibles being 

 ticularly useful and giving a mass of important in- 

 formation in a small space. .As may be expected from 

 one whose name is well know-n as an authority on 

 lifting-screws, the author declares emphatically foi 

 the helicopter as the machine of the future, and 

 says : " In my opinion at least, the lifting-screw 

 machine, or helicopter, forms an advance on every 

 other type of flying-machine." The reasons for this 

 statement are given as its capabilities for vertical 

 rise, its lightness, strength, and ease in landing, its 

 safety, trustworthiness, and ease in control. 



(2) On the other hand, in "The Helicopter Flying- 

 machine," Mr. J. R. Porter, who has devoted many 

 years to the study of the subject, rejects the helicopter 

 proper for what he terms a " turbine machine." Thi 

 propellers in this apparatus are designed to produce 

 a horizontal and radial current of air, which is 

 diverted downwards bv means of curved annular sur- 

 faces, with the result that an upward reaction i« 

 produced. It is his opinion that a helicopter proper 

 "has less stability than the aeroplane, that the matter 



