464 Bihliocjrajiliical Notices. 



and since his arguments, contained in papers which form the 

 hasis of the work before us, have so recently been under discussion, 

 it is unneces^^ary here to deal with them in detail. Suffice it to 

 remark that he sets out with a desire to explain the origin of a fauna 

 (that of Ireland in ]'aiti(:ular) by the careful study of its past and 

 present facies. Discussing the theories of noithern and southern 

 migration, and of the migration of the hulk of the original European 

 fauna on land, he upholds the view that the present fauna and flora 

 1 cached Ireland in a continuous stream from early Tertiary times 

 onwards, and that many of its existing species have probably been 

 there since the Eocene. He argues tliat little or nothing arrived 

 after the earlier part of the Pleistoceue — i. e. practically notliing 

 since the Glacial Period. 



He incidentally 8ui)ports the theory of marine origin of the 

 Boulder Clay, and materially so the argument in favour of ice-action 

 in K. Europe being due to floating icebergs at sea, as distinct from 

 land-ice ; leading up to the final conclusion that Ireland became 

 separated from England when the migrations from S. to Central 

 Europe were in progress, and that the bulk of the animals which 

 now inhabit England and Ireland are tlie descendants of ancestors 

 which must have migiatcd over a land-surface not covered by ice. 



The book is admira))ly got up, not its least attractive feature 

 being the illustrations, which, though few, are in some cases new 

 and highly welcome. Its weakest aspect appears to us the too great 

 reliance on mere negative evidence, notoriously on the supposed 

 scantiness of fossils in the Oligocene deposits, which for Ireland have 

 yet to be adequately explored. 



In questions of synonymy, there arc some concerning which the 

 author is by no means in agreement with precedent and prevailing 

 custom, and its a pity he is not more of a palaontologist. The general 

 tone of the book is healthy in the extreme, well worthy its author's 

 association with Iladdon, Cunningham, and others, who are doing so 

 much for natural science in the Green Isle. All things considered, 

 the question whether the Irish fauna be glacial, pre- or post-glacial, 

 is but of secondary importance in the production of the book. It 

 is its author's great merit to have opened up a new line of thought 

 on an important problem and worked it out at great pains. That 

 his book will exercise a stimulating influence on Irish investigation 

 is certain ; and we could wish it no better outcome than that it might 

 lead to an early exploration of the later and post-tertiary deposits 

 of the atea with wliich it deals, upon the evidence obtainable from 

 which much that is advocated in its pages must stand or fall. 



Otr Buds nml Sl'qnihs. I5v the Kight Hon. Sir .T(ihn Lubbock, 

 Barf., M.P., F.K.S., D.C.L, LL.D. With Four Coloured Plates 

 and 340 Figures in the Text. (International Scientific Series, 

 vol. Ixxxvi.) London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, & Co., 

 Ltd. 18(19. Svo. Pp. xix, 233. 



This volume consists of selections from three j)aj)or8 — '• On Stipules, 

 their Forms and Functions," and " On Buds and Stipules" — which 



