50 



NATURE 



\Ngv. 15, 1888 



there are one or two points which may be noticed in 

 passing. The Sponges are retained as a sub-group of the 

 Rhizopoda in the sub-kingdom Protozoa. Possibly the 

 first pages of this work were in type before the separa- 

 tion of the Spongida from the Protozoa, which is now 

 generally accepted, was so strongly insisted on by bio- 

 logists. It is well, however, for students to be reminded 

 that the Sponges are regarded by most naturalists as 

 presenting a higher type of organization than is found in 

 the Protozoa. 



In the first part of this volume the name Conchifera 

 is used for the bivalve MoUusca. This is to be regretted, 

 inasmuch as the term is incorrect, unless it can be used 

 to include all the shell-bearing Mollusks. In the latter 

 part ,of the appendix, Pelecypoda is used instead of 

 Conchifera. It may be that the latter name has priority, 

 but surely it is not so appropriate nor so correct as 

 that of Lamellibranchiata, which has for so long been in 

 general use ; and it seems questionable whether this 

 reversion to old names, for groups of animals, is 

 justifiable. 



Perhaps the most difficult part of the work which Mr. 

 Etheridge has undertaken is the correction of specific 

 synonymy, and specialists in certain groups may pos- 

 sibly be inclined to differ from him ; but those who have 

 done most in the endeavour to rectify the synonyms of 

 fossil species will best appreciate the difficulty of the 

 task, and be most ready to make allowance for any 

 difference of opinion in these matters. 



There are few palaeontologists who have such a grasp 

 of the entire range of British fossils as Mr. Etheridge, 

 and probably none better qualified for the work, the first 

 part of which is here so successfully accomplished. The 

 author is to be congratulated on the completion of so 

 much of his task, and on the admirable manner in which 

 it has been printed and published. 



That the book has been printed by the Clarendon 

 Press is sufficient guarantee of its excellence. The care- 

 ful typing and arrangement, as well as the clear printing 

 and good paper, are all that could be wished for, and add 

 greatly to its value. 



It is much to be desired that the Secondary and Ter- 

 tiary portions of this catalogue should speedily be in the 

 hands of geologists ; but one reads with regret, in a note 

 at the end of the preface, that the pressure of official 

 duties will prevent the author preparing these parts for 

 publication, although the manuscript is practically com- 

 plete. It is sincerely to be hoped that the delay may be 

 of short duration, and that Mr. Etheridge will shortly see 

 his way to the completion of this valuable work, which 

 every geologist and palaeontologist ought to possess, as it 

 must of necessity be for many years the standard work 

 of reference for British fossils. E. T. N. 



YORKSHIRE LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS. 

 Yorkshire Legends and Traditions, as told by her Ancient 

 Chroniclers, her Poets, and Journalists. By the Rev. 

 Tho3. Parkinson, F.R.Hist.S., &c. (London : Elliot 

 Stock, 1888.) 



LEGENDARY LORE has its interest if not its value 

 to the anthropologist as well as to the philologist. 

 It sometimes happens that a word has given rise to a 



legend, and that the existence of a legend or tradition 

 indicates identity of race, or a common o.rigin of two 

 widely separated peoples. The science of philology in 

 particular welcomes the data in legends and traditions 

 faithfully given in the vernacular, and undoubtedly affords 

 in its turn a scientific explanation of the origin or meaning 

 of some of them. 



The limitation in the title of the present work does no 

 small injustice to the subject, and to the qualifications of 

 the author for treating it, as it excludes many of the 

 most interesting, most local, and most characteristic of 

 Yorkshire legends and traditions, which must be well 

 known to so true a Yorkshireman as the Rev. Thos. 

 Parkinson. This, however, is only a first instalment or 

 " wainload of the marvellous from this county of broad 

 acres," and as such is acceptable. It would be well if the 

 author were to give references to all the principal sources 

 of these legends, as some of them are found in more than 

 one shape, and different versions of the same story some- 

 times present details which identify the legend with 

 a third legend found perhaps in a distant locality, or 

 with more than one such, thereby proving a still more 

 remote common origin. We will presently exemplify this 

 in the Handale legend. Our author has grouped his 

 materials under nine heads : legends and traditions con- 

 nected with the early history of Yorkshire ; those of 

 abbeys and monastic life ; of Satanic agency ; Barguest and 

 ghost legends ; Mother Shipton ; dragons and serpents ; 

 battle- fields ; legends of wells, lakes, &c. ; and miscel- 

 laneous legends. The name of Eboracum, or York, has 

 proved a fertile source of legends, several of which are 

 collected in the opening chapter ; its true origin, not being 

 scientifically demonstrable, is, as our author justly ob- 

 serves, " buried in obscurity." Of the legends connected 

 with the coming of the Danes, that of " Buern the 

 Busecarle" (pp. 10-14), taken from the translation in the 

 "Church Historians of England" (by the Rev. Jos. Ste- 

 phenson) of the Anglo-Norman "Metrical Chronicle" 

 of Geoffrey Gaimar, written in Stephen's reign, is of 

 historic interest, and receives further elucidation and sup- 

 port from the self-evident fact that " Buern Busecarle " 

 is a Scandinavian or Old Norse and not an English 

 name and title. Bjorn Bus-Karl = "Bjorn the farmer of 

 the King's estates," or the "Karl" (A.S. ceorl) of the 

 Konungs-bu or royal demesnes, as he is, in fact, described 

 in the legend. It was because he was a Northman 

 that he called in the aid of the Danes, including North- 

 men, when his wife was dishonoured by King Osbert, as 

 related by Gaimar. Passing by numerous legends, among 

 which that of the death of King Ella, and the probable site 

 of Ellsworth and EUecroft or Ellecross is interesting, we 

 note (p. 96) that the horn of Ulphus, or Ulfr, a Norse- 

 man who, about the time of King Canute, governed in the 

 western part of Deira, is "a portion of the tusk of an 

 elephant, about 3 feet long." The author excites the 

 reader'scuriosity by adding that "round the thick end are 

 engraved a number of emblematic figures, in some re- 

 spects not unlike those found on Egyptian and Assyrian 

 monuments." Surely there must be extant some expert 

 opinion as to the species of elephant, as to the date and 

 nationality of the workmanship, and whether the tusk was 

 brought from the East, already engraved, by the far-roving 

 Northmen— but here our author fails us. The " Filey 



