5-^ 



NA TURE 



[November i8, 1897 



Old Norse, and Anglo-Saxon ; or his explanation (p. 

 184) of the reason for keeping cattle in herds. 



For instruction we may turn to such chapters as those 

 on the "Revival of a primitive fauna," on "West coast 

 meteorology," or on " Assisted vision." Some of the 

 pleasantest reading is to be found in the pages which 

 give the results of the author's out-of-door observation. 

 Here, for example, is a note on the enmity between 

 bees and butterflies : — 



" All kinds of stonecrop possess peculiar attractions 

 for bees and butterflies owing to their abundant secre- 

 tion of honey. One of the tall growing kinds, Sedum 

 spcchidile, is by far the handsomest. It is the latest to 

 flower, and its great, flat, rosy corymbs are irresistible to 

 that splendid autumn butterfly, the Red Admiral. . . . 

 I have been watching a number of these robust insects 

 busy on the large stonecrop — so busy as to allow me to 

 use a lens on them. There were no less than sixteen 

 Admirals at work on one group of Spectabile stonecrop. 

 The honey bees, however, interfered with them, and it 

 was curious to see how shrewdly a Red Admiral would 

 sheer off at the approach of a bee of less than one-tenth 

 of his own bulk. . . . Now, how do butterflies learn to 

 dread a bee ? How do they know that bees are armed ? 

 It can hardly be by experience, for no butterfly could 

 survive the stab of a bee's sting. It is part of the 

 mystery enveloping the intelligence of animals not 

 personally educated by their parents. . . . The phases 

 of insect life — the egg abandoned by the parent, the 

 stages of larva, pupa, and imago — seem specially cal- 

 culated to interfere with hereditary knowledge, and to 

 prohibit the communication of instruction. . . . This 

 avoidance of bees by butterflies seems to be an instance 

 of pure instinct." 



On another page, in the course of some remarks on 

 the choice of food by animals, the author alludes to 

 the fact that some creatures will thrive upon plants 

 which to others are poisonous, and instances the case of 

 the Spurge Hawk Moth {Dciliphila euphorbia:)^ of which 

 the caterpillar feeds exclusively on the Sea Spurge, 

 although this plant secretes an acrid juice " so painfully 

 poisonous that it is difificult to imagine a digestive 

 apparatus competent to deal with it." He might have 

 mentioned the still more curious case of the caterpillar 

 of another moth, Deiopcia ptdchella, which feeds on the 

 virulent poison contained in the seed of the Esere or 

 *' Ordeal Bean" of Old QdMbdit [^Physostignia venenosuvt), 

 and is unaffected by it {cf. Dr. T. R. Fraser, Ann. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist, May 1864). 



We should like to know the authority for the state- 

 ment (p. 141) that in the lines from the "Midsummer 

 Night's Dream" (So doth the woodbine the sweet honey- 

 suckle gently entwist), Woodbine means the Bittersweet 

 or Deadly Nightshade. This interpretation appears to 

 have the sanction of Dr. Prior in his " Popular Names 

 of British Plants," but is opposed to the view of Canon 

 Ellacombe, who has made a special study of the "Plant- 

 lore of Shakespeare." 



We have noted other passages on which criticism 

 might be offered did space permit ; but enough has 

 perhaps been said to indicate the scope of the volume. 

 While too much in the nature of a scrap-book to entitle 

 it to praise as a literary effort, it has the merit of being 

 distinctly entertaining, and of conveying in a light, 

 pleasant style a variety of information on subjects of 

 more or less interest. 



NO. 1464, VOL. 5;^^ 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Notes on Micro-organisms Pathogenic to Man. By 

 Surgeon-Captain B. H. S. Leumann, Indian Medical 

 Service. Pp. 96. (London : Longmans, Green, and 

 Co., 1897.) 



This compact and well-written little volume does not . 

 make any pretensions to be a text-book in the ordinary 

 sense of the word, and we should be sorry if the 

 " students and practitioners " for whom it is intended 

 should in their turn make any pretensions to a knowledge 

 of the subject after its perusal. Indeed, students and 

 practitioners " who have no opportunity of working at 

 the subject themselves, or time to read a larger book," 

 had better remember the old adage, a little learning is a 

 dangerous thing. Bacteriology, unfortunately, suffers 

 at the present time from the idea that it is essentially a 

 popular science — that it is a subject well within the 

 comprehension and well within the grasp of any one who 

 chooses to hold out his hand for it. Thus we too 

 frequently find it taken up by totally unqualified persons, 

 and the > results of their recondite researches serve to 

 bring the whole domain of microbes into disrepute. 

 We do not quarrel with Surgeon-Captain Leumann's 

 little book, for it is clearly and concisely written, and 

 makes every endeavour to be accurate and up to date ; 

 and of particular interest is the local colouring, if we 

 may use such an expression, which characterises it in 

 dealing with the most recent work in India on plague 

 and cholera. We have no desire to depreciate these notes, 

 but we do regret that the author encourages the practice 

 of reading about bacteria instead of working at them in 

 a class of professional men who ought certainly to be 

 able to do something more substantial than talk about 

 them. Bacteriology to be of any value must be studied 

 in the laboratory ; and without a practical acquaintance 

 with micro-organisms, the latest and most exhaustive 

 manual " made in Germany " will fail to do more than 

 acquaint the reader with the superficial phraseology of 

 the subject. 



The Winter Meteorology of Egypt and its Influence on 

 Disease. By H. E. Leigh Canney, M.D. (Lond.), &c. 

 Pp. 72. (London : Balli^re, Tindall, and Cox, 1897.) 



To people who, for health's sake, pass the winter in Egypt, 

 and to practitioners who wish to know the climatic con- 

 ditions of the various health resorts of the country, this 

 book will be an invaluable possession. The volume 

 comprises a paper read before the Royal Meteorological 

 Society last December, and one read before the recent 

 International Congress of Medicine at Moscow. The 

 first of these papers contains the results of a series of 

 meteorological observations made under precisely com- 

 parable conditions during three or four winters in Egypt. 

 The stations at which observations were made were 

 Cairo, Mena Honse, Helouan, Luxor, Assouan, Valley of 

 the Tomb of the Kings, and the crest of the Libyan Hills. 

 As self-recording thermometers and hair-hygrometers 

 were used at each station, valuable data were obtained on 

 the diurnal variation of temperature and humidity. It 

 appears from the discussion of the observations that the 

 climate of Egypt is influenced by the Libyan or Western 

 Desert, the Mediterranean Sea, and the extent of culti- 

 vated land. 



The second part of the treatise provides the medical 

 profession with a valuable guide to the therapeutic 

 influences of the climates of different health stations in 

 Egypt. Practitioners who have not been able to visit 

 the country will find this section most serviceable. 



Appended to the volume are several clear and instruc- 

 tive diagrams showing, for the six months from November 

 1895 to April 1896, the temperature and relative humidity 

 at various hours of the day at Helouan, Mena Honse, 



