July 22, 192P] 



NATURE 



651 



therefore follows that the responses of shoot and 

 root to the direct and indirect stimulus must be 

 of opposite signs. 



The diverse movements of plants are thus 

 explained from the establishment of the 

 general law that direct stimulus induces 

 a contraction and indirect stimulus an expan- 

 sion. 



I have shown, further, the extraordinary simi- 

 larity of physiological reaction in the plant and 

 animal (Friday evening discourse, Royal Institu- 

 tion, May 29, 1914). The responsive phenomena 

 in plants must thus form an integral part of vari- 

 ous problems relating to irritability of all living 

 tissues, and without such study the investigation 

 must in future remain incomplete. 



Popular Natural History.^ 



(i) T^HE best popularisers, after all, are 

 * masters — if they care to try ; and Fal 



the 

 to try ; and Fabre's 

 " Story Book of Science " is a fine illustration. It 

 is very perfect — full of interesting material, 

 vividly written, stimulating both observation and 

 reflection. He tells of ants, aphides, long-lived 

 plants and animals, procession caterpillars, bees, 

 spiders, shells, cotton, paper, silk, clouds, thunder, 

 rain, the sea, and more besides — all as if 

 it were a pleasure to him to talk, and just 

 the very easiest thing in the world. The book 

 must have been fashioned long ago, but so wisely 

 that there is little that requires changing; it was 

 meant for the children of more than a generation 

 ago, and it would be a joy of a reading-book in 

 schools to-day ; it was written in French, and it 

 reads as if it had been composed in English. The 

 translator, Mr. A. T. De Mattos, has done his 

 work with great skill. We confess that we should 

 not call Hemerobius a dragon-fly, and there must 

 be something wrong in speaking of the " sharp 

 bones" in the silk-moth's cornea, which Fabre 

 described as a rasper for filing at the silk threads 

 of the cocoon. But these are pin-pricks ; the book 

 is past praising, and its pages are very pleasant 

 to read— pleasant both to the inner and the outer 

 eye. We should be having a Fabre centenary 

 soon. 



(2) A translation of Fabre's "Story Book of 

 Birds and Beasts " is very welcome. The subjects 

 are for the most part familiar, but the handling 

 of them is masterly in its simplicity, grip, and 

 vividness. Fabre had a way of taking the reader 

 into his confidence, and making a sort of partner 

 of him in his observations. But it is a game that 

 only a big man can play with success. We are 

 introduced to the cock and the hen, the ^^^ and 

 the chicken, the duck and the goose and the 

 pigeon, the cat and the dog, the sheep and the 

 cow, the horse and the donkey, and we get inter- 



1 (i) "The Story Book of Science." By J. H. Fabre. Pp. 299. 

 (London: Hoddtr and Stouehton, 11. d.) Price ^s. (ui. net. 



(a) " The Story Book of Birds and Beasts." By J. H. Fabre. Pp. 315. 

 (London : Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.) Price ts. id. net. 



(3) "Animal Life under Water." By Dr. Francii Ward. Pp. x-f-iyS-)- 

 plates. (London : Ca«sell and Co., Ltd.. igig.) Price 7J. td. net. 



(4) " Birds in Town and Village." By W. H. Hudson. Pp. ix-l-274. 

 Illustrated. (London and Toronto: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd.; New 

 York : E. P. Button and Co., igig.) Price lar. dd. net. 



(s) "The Book of a Naturalist." By W. H.Hudson. Pp. viIi-t-36o. 

 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.) Price lar. net. 



(6) "Wonders of Insect Life : Details of the Habits and Structure of 

 Insects." Illustrated by the Camera and the Microscope. By J. H. 

 Crabtree. Pp. viii + 2ii-f-32 plates. (London : George Routledge and 

 Sons, Ltd. ; New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., n.d.) Price ts. net. 



(7) " Just Look ! or, How the Children Studied Nature." By L. 

 Beatrice Thompson. Pp. viii -(-204-(-58 plates. (London: Gay and 

 Hancock, Ltd., n.d.) Price5i.net. 



NO. 2647, VOL. 105] 



ested in them as if they were novelties. It is high 

 art. The stories should be used in schools. 



The book is not without blemishes, of which 

 we venture to give some samples. We do not 

 know what to call the first part of a hen's 

 stomach, but we are sure that it cannot be called 

 "the succenturiate ventricle," The story of the 

 making of the shell of the ^^^ is misleading, and 

 it is not true to say that the hen must have car- 

 bonate of lime in her food. We are rather stag- 

 gered by some humming-birds "as small as our 

 large wasps." The account given of "pigeon's 

 milk " is erroneous. It should have been noted 

 that the passenger pigeon, in regard to which 

 Audubon's account is quoted, has now ceased to 

 exist. For the translator's work we have great 

 admiration ; but it might have shown wisdom as 

 well as piety to have got an editorial expert to 

 look into points such as we have illustrated. There 

 is no sense in perpetuating mistakes. 



(3) Dr. Francis Ward's book is in great part 

 an attempt to take the point of view of the animal 

 under water. 



Seen from below, the surface of the water would 

 appear as an extensive mirror, with the river-bed 

 reflected upon it. Immediately above the observer 

 the reflecting surface is broken by a circular hole 

 or "window." Through the surface of the water, in 

 the area of this "window," the sky and objects im- 

 mediately overhead have their usual appearance, but 

 in addition surrounding objects above the water level 

 are also seen through the "window" as dvvarfed and 

 distorted images, suspended, as it were, in the air 

 above the circumference of the circular hole. A ring 

 of iridescent colours separates the " window " from 

 the surrounding reflecting surface. 



Many of Dr. Ward's observations have a direct 

 bearing on the concealment of aquatic animals, 

 and deserve careful attention from naturalists. 

 Let us illustrate. The size of the " window " 

 varies with the depth of the under-water observer ; 

 when birds and fishes on the surface slip out of 

 the " window " they cease to be conspicuous (to 

 their enemies below) as silhouettes against the 

 sky. Protection under water may be afforded, as 

 in the case of brown trout, by reflection of the 

 surrounding coloration. White animals, such as 

 a white sea-anemone, take up a position where 

 the revealing top light is cut off. Black-plumaged 

 birds, like the water-hen, become mirrors under 

 the water owing to reflection from the air-bubbles 

 retained in their plumage. 



After explaining the sub-aquatic conditions as 



