6i6 



NATURE 



[July 14, 192 1 



folk. They will hear, smell, and see him 

 seconds, even minutes, before he has any chance 

 of g-etting- on terms with them." 



Some people have spoken of the silence of the 

 Indian jungles; but this is true only of the hotter 

 part of the day, when most of the mammals and 

 birds are taking- their siesta. In the morning 

 and evening, and at night, the jungles are full of 

 sound. 



The interrelations of living creatures are peren- 

 nially interesting, and Mr. Stebbing gives some 

 fine examples. Thus certain caterpillars, which 

 he names, defoliate great blocks of teak forest, 

 leaving them exposed to the hot sun and hot 

 winds so that the undergrowth becomes scorched 

 and withered. The deer and some other mam- 

 mals have to quit these shelterless tracts. 



" The termite has its uses in the Indian forest, 

 for it rapidly disposes of the vast amount of refuse 

 branches and dead fallen stems which without its 

 aid would accumulate on the forest floor and 

 greatly add to the risk of fires and increase their 

 intensity when they took place, in addition to 

 making progression impossible for man or beast." 



The red ants are a source of great trouble to 

 man, though he does make a paste of them which 

 is eaten as a condiment with curry ! 



"The red ant lives in the trees and builds 

 nests of the leaves. Such nests are a 

 common sight in the sdl forests. The nests 

 are constructed in an ingenious manner, the 

 edges of the green leaves being gummed to- 

 gether. The mature arit does not possess any 

 material with which to perform this work. His 

 gum bottle he finds in the immature ant, which 

 has glands secreting a sticky substance. Several 

 of the adult ants hold the leaves together, whilst 

 another seizes a youngster between its mandibles 

 and uses him as the brush of the gum bottle. It 

 shows either a high form of civilisation or a low 

 form of sweating to thus make the children share 

 in the labour of house-building." 



The second part of this interesting book deals 

 with the means to be taken to preserve the forest 

 game animals from poachers and unsportsmanlike 

 sportsmen, and this in turn leads to the larger 

 question of the preservation of the Indian land 

 fauna as a whole. Some of the finest game 

 animals are now within measurable distance of 

 extinction, and the creation of game sanctuaries 

 has been commenced with the view of affording 

 protection to certain animals, such as the bison, 

 rhinoceros, and deer. Apart from game, many 

 components of the fauna are of economic value, 

 and zoologically all are interesting. Mr. Stebbing 

 pleads convincing-ly for large permanent sanc- 

 tuaries, from which sportsmen, collectors, ex- 

 ploiters, and the like would be barred. One 

 NO. 2698, VOL. 107] 



almost feels as if Mr. Stebbing had seen 

 St. Hubert's vision in the course of his book, for 

 he becomes steadily less sanguinary and more of a 

 naturalist. Nevertheless, it is very good reading^ 

 through and through. 



Elementary Pure Mathematics. 



(i) The School Geometry: Matriculation Editio7t, 

 By W. P. Workman and A.. G. Cracknell. 

 Pp. xi + 348. (London: W. B. Clive, University 

 Tutorial Press, Ltd., 1919.) 45. 6d. 



(2) Modern Geometry: The Straight Line and 

 Circle. By C. V. Durell. Pp. x+145. (Lon- 

 don: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1920.) 65. 



(3) The Elements of Analytical Conies. By Pr. 

 C. Davison. Pp. vii + 238. (Cambridge: At the 

 University Press, 1919.) 105. net. 



(4) An Algebra for Engineering Students. By 

 G. S. Eastwood and J. R. Fielden. (With 

 answers.) Pp. vii+199 + xv. (London: 

 Edward Arnold, 1919.) ys. 6d. net. 



(5) Elements of Vector Algebra. By Dr. L. 

 Silberstein. Pp. vii + 42. (London : Longmans, 

 Green, and Co., 1919.) 55. net. 



(6) Graphical and Mechanical Computation. By 

 Dr. J. Lipka. Pp. ix + 264. (New York : 

 J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd., 1918.) 185. 6d. net. 



(i) " I ^HIS book is in reality sections i.-iv. of 

 JL the authors' "Geometry: Theoretical 

 and Practical," adapted to the requirements of 

 students preparing for the matriculation and 

 similar examinations. It combines the theoretical 

 with the practical. After an introductory course 

 of practical geometry based on intuition, there 

 follows a series of propositions and theorems 

 amounting, roughly, to "Euclid," Book L, 

 Book III., Book 11. , and Book IV. The presenta- 

 tion and treatment call for no special comment; 

 they are clear and concise, in the well-known 

 style of the University Tutorial Series. There 

 are many exercises of all kinds and of all grades 

 of difficulty ; many of the riders are provided with 

 hints as to which theorems they are based on, 

 and the student is thus led on to discover for 

 himself the best methods for dealing with such 

 exercises. 



A few points deserve special mention. The 

 definition of space on p. 34 is not likely to convey 

 anything very clear or even intelligible to the 

 average matriculation candidate. The theorem 

 that the sum of the interior angles of a polygon 

 of n sides is (2n — 4) right angles is unnecessarily 

 restricted to convex polygons. Another figure is 

 required on p. 85. Some misprints and one or 



