3o6 



NATURE 



[November 19, 1914 



his predecessors of thirty years ago. This 

 modern tendency is shown in the batch of books 

 now before us. 



(i) Mr. Furneaux, introducing his lesson-book 

 for school-classes, tells us that his work "deals 

 with living nature rather than with dead ob- 

 jects." Beginning with Amoeba and the Yeast, 

 he passes first to plant life, as illustrated by 

 fern and flowering plant, and then to. animal life, 

 so far as it can be demonstrated by short lessons 

 on butterfly, frog, pigeon, and a few common 

 mammals. The grosser structure of flower- 

 ing plants is discussed at some length ; in the 

 zoological section attention is directed chiefly to 

 what may be seen by the pupils as they watch 

 the living creatures. Indeed, the anatomical in- 

 formation is almost too meagre to be of use, and 

 the classificatory schemes are faulty ; for example, 

 eagles and owls are placed in the same order of 

 birds, while among the mammals the Ruminants 

 are separated ordinally from the Ungulata, which 

 are said to include the horse, ass, and swine ! 

 The book concludes with a chapter on human 

 physiology extending to 25 pages. Distinctly 

 useful as the book may prove to an earnest 

 teacher, it leaves the impression of an attempt to 

 include too much in the space allotted. 



(2) Miss E. M. Goddard's book, "written to 

 provide a course in elementary botany for the 

 middle forms," and admittedly intended to be 

 "useful to students preparing for examination," 

 gives an excellent combination of practical exer- 

 cises and clear explanations, illustrated by good, 

 bold outline drawings. The pupil who works 

 conscientiously through the physiological experi- 

 ments, and laboratory and field observations de- 

 scribed in this small volume will have won 

 something better than examination successes — a 

 well-grounded foundation for future study of plant 

 life. On page 46 there is a curious slip of "corm " 

 for "bulb," in a paragraph distinguishing these 

 two favourites of the botanical examiner, which 

 may puzzle the intending examinee. 



(3) In "Pond Problems," Mr. E. E. Unwin has 

 produced a noteworthy educational work. He deals 

 only with aquatic insects, and no naturalist who 

 appreciates the mode of treatment adopted will 

 be surprised to find that the method of teaching 

 was learned in the laboratory of Prof. L. C. 

 Miall. Mr. Unwin has, indeed, given his fellow- 

 teachers the benefit of his own lesson-notes. The 

 nature of his method will best be realised from 

 the fact that in 100 pages there are 397 questions, 

 to most of which the pupils are left to find answers 

 from their own observations. All the drawings 

 and most of the photographic illustrations are ex- 

 cellent. Hints are given for the construction of 



NO. 2351, VOL. Q4i 



simple but elficient pieces of apparatus, and the 

 boys or girls who are fortunate enough to be 

 taken through the course on the lines indicated 

 will enjoy a "good time." Is it not a mistake 

 to use the term " skin " — even with quotation 

 marks and explanations — for the chitinous 

 exoskeleton of an arthropod ? Why not write 

 "cuticle," and thus familiarise the student from 

 the beginning with the essential difference between 

 the secreted envelope and the true skin which 

 forms it? 



(4) With Mr. C. A. Palmer's contribution we 

 pass from school-books to a play-book, for he 

 has written a series of bright chatty notes on 

 common animals in the form of letters to a young 

 boy. Many of these are thrown into the anthro- 

 pomorphic story-sketch which has been popular 

 of late years, both in the United Kingdom and in 

 America. The somewhat slight letterpress is 

 illustrated by attractive drawings. Although the 

 scene of "Dad's" zoological researches is osten- 

 sibly an English county, he describes and figures 

 the trap-door nest of a Xemesia, which raises a 

 certain degree of scepticism with regard to his 

 other stories. 



(5) Messrs. Thomas and Collett ha\e produced 

 a volume of popular natural history for the 

 drawing-room, which in literary form, typo- 

 graphical finish, and illustrations is "a thing of 

 beauty. " The black and white sketches — drawn 

 by Mr. A. W^ Seaby — are mostly admirable, and 

 there are some attractive reproductions in colour 

 of notable landscapes, though a plain naturalist, 

 with an old-fashioned preference for clear draw- 

 i"&» 's grateful for the printed information that 

 one of them represents "building the Rick"; 

 " Digging out the Sand-pit " would have been 

 equally credible as a title. The book is made up 

 of a series of short chapters describing phases 

 of country life through the months of June, 

 July, and August. Animals and plants are dis- 

 cussed in relation to their surroundings, and 

 the authors see birds and flowers with the 

 artist's eye. The passion for the open so per- 

 vades the book that it will surely drive some 

 readers "Along the River" and "Among the 

 Grasses," if not " Below the Tidemark." In some 

 of their explanations the authors are too dogmatic. 

 Our British species of Erebia, for example, are 

 not surviving members of " the Arctic fauna which 

 flourished here in the Ice Age." They both belong 

 to the distinctively Alpine group which is southern 

 rather than northern in its affinity, and neither 

 is to be found in the Arctic regions. The studies 

 of bird and plant life are generally good, and 

 the drawings of birds — at rest or in flight — are 

 excellent, as are-most of the plant sketches. In 



