210 



NATURE 



[April 14, 192 1 



the physiological and psychological powers or 

 weaknesses of the player are of equal importance. 

 There is a limit to the weight of club which can 

 be most efficiently used by the average man, and 

 there must also be a limit to the weight of the 

 ball. From the point of view of atmospheric re- 

 sistance, the ratio of the surface to the weight 

 must be kept as low as possible ; but too small a 

 surface will diminish the lifting power of the 

 underspin, just as too large a weight will cut down 

 the velocity of .projection. The one quality which 



must be as perfect as possible is the resilience of 

 the material ; but no ball can have a higher co- 

 efficient of restitution than unity, and therefore 

 no ball can start on its flight with a velocity 

 greater than twice that of the club head at the 

 instant of impact. Physical and physiological con- 

 siderations necessarily fix a limit to the range of 

 flight attainable, and probably that limit is now 

 being approximated to. Which, then, is simpler 

 — to standardise or to re-arrange our golf 

 courses? C. G. K. 



Nature in a Himalayan Valley.^ 



By Lt.-Col. J. H. Tull Walsh. 



WE have here the notes made by an officer 

 of the Indian Medical Service in the 

 Hazara valley of the foot-hills, 

 during the years 1914-16. These 

 observations are wide in their 

 range, and were, no doubt, a relief 

 to more serious work. The author 

 is an amateur naturalist, far from 

 works of reference and museum 

 specimens, and the opinions are 

 strictly personal. No man can 

 possess full knowledge in all the 

 branches of science alluded to — for 

 there is compilation as well as ob- 

 servation in this book- — but Capt. 

 Hingston has acknowledged his 

 borrowings. The ordinary lover of 

 Nature, who likes a pleasantly 

 written account of geology and 

 animal life in an area not well 

 known to many, will enjoy this 

 book, ignoring opinions with 

 which he may not agree, and errors 

 which the technical naturalist 

 would claim as serious. The 

 general features of the Hazara 

 valley are shown on the map facing 

 p. 4. It is a " slender wedge of 

 British soil" about 120 miles long, 

 its width varying from 56 miles at 

 the base of the wedge to 15 miles 

 at the apex. "To the south its 

 foot-hills sink into the plains of the 

 Punjab ; to the north it rises into 

 massive peaks 17,000 ft. in height 

 that blend with the still loftier 

 summits of western Kashmir." 



The first five chapters are de- 

 voted to ants, harvesting ants, a 

 species placed in the genus Myme- 

 cocystus, and others. Habits, etc., 

 are freely discussed, and a great 

 deal is written concerning instinct. 

 The author asks too much from in- 

 stinct, and "folly" (p. 41) is 

 scarcely the correct word to apply 

 to mistakes which are not provided 

 for among instincts inherited by 



plates (facing pp. 13 and 60) are given of certain 

 ants commonly found in the Hazara valley. While 



F[G. 1.— Ill the Himalaya. From "A Naturalist in Himalaya.' 



msects. 



Two 



1 "A Naturalist in Him.Tlaya." By R. W. G. Hingston. Pp. xii + 300 

 -1-plates. (London : H. F. and G. Witherby, 1920.) \Zs. net. 



NO. 2685, VOL. IO7I 



on the subject of plates, we think it would have 

 been better to give them numbers. The illustrations 

 themselves are excellent, as our examples prove. 



