LILY 2 2, 



1920] 



NATURE 



653 



moorhens in Hyde Park, the eagle and the 

 canary (concerning cages), chanticleer, and 

 the birds of an old garden. If the birds 

 knew what Mr. Hudson has done for them, they 

 would sing all the year round. 



(5) It is difficult to imagine anything more 

 delightful than Mr. Hudson's "Book of a Natural- 

 ist," and we wish he had called it vol. i. Why 

 should there not be many volumes, when it is so 

 easy to make one so good ? So easy ! for all 

 that is necessary is to have (1) an intimate per- 

 sonal experience and a deep understanding of the 

 life and conversation of animals as they live in 

 more or less wild Nature ; (2) an artistic or poetic 

 sense which gives Blake's "double vision"; and 

 {3) an ear for words that makes the pages of the 

 book sing. The same subjects are often treated 

 of by many painters, and likewise by many 

 naturalists. Ants and wasps, bats and foxes, 

 moles and earthworms, snakes and toads, pigs and 

 potatoes — these are fair samples of Mr. Hudson's 

 stock in trade ; but he is a magician-pedlar, and 

 the familiar things among his wares turn out to 

 have most unexpectedly profound and subtle ex- 

 cellences. Here science and art seem to meet in a 

 deepening of our appreciation of common things, 

 and perhaps this is the biggest service that a man 

 who sees can do to his day and generation. 



Mr. Hudson wished to call his book "Diver- 

 sions of a Naturalist," but Sir Ray Lankester was 

 ahead of him. We do not think he lost much, 

 for what he has given us are really " Apprecia- 

 tions," as Sir Ray Lankester's "diversions" were 

 also. The expert biologists get down to the 

 depths of life in a way that is indispensable and 

 fundamental, but the field-naturalists, among 

 whom Mr. Hudson stands out as Saul among the 

 prophets, get at the heights of life in a way that 

 is indispensable and supreme. What is con- 

 tributed in these fascinating essays is a wealth 

 of first-hand observations, and to this, of course, 

 there are added the reflections of a highly gifted 

 intelligence. But we submit that there is more — 

 that feeling has a r6le in the interpretation of 

 Nature, and that sympathetic insight (through 

 aesthetic emotion at one pole, and sheer sense of 

 kinship at the other) opens up one of the rights- 

 of-way to reality. This is too academic in its 

 phrasing, and unfair to Mr. Hudson, through 

 whose writings sunlight streams and breezes 

 blow; but we mean that this is the book of an 

 expert naturalist and of a man of feeling as well. 



(6) The entomologist is always discovering new 

 wonders, and very frequently he has enthusiasm 

 enough to wish to share his pleasure with others. 

 Mr. Crabtree has the entomological enthusiasm 

 right enough, but we are not sure about all his 

 wonders. In the first place he is too much of 

 an anthropomorphist, for he says the study of 

 insect-life "provides a host of examples and illus- 

 trations of such noble aims as ' living for a 

 purpose, ' ' striving for the best, ' ' helping one 

 another,' ' bearing each other's burdens,' and 

 ' sympathy in sorrow. ' " He has interesting 

 observations to describe, and he tells his story 



NO. 2647, VOL. 105] 



fairly well ; but again there is the false note : he 

 should not speak of his book selecting "repre- 

 sentative members of the principal species," or 

 of "the Pulex family." It is a pity that an author 

 who seems to have seen a lot of things for himself 

 should write like this: "The numerous family of 

 Lice that is parasitic on certain animals is classed 

 under the common term Haemotopinus." Why 

 do not publishers see to it, by utilising readily 

 available advice, that this sort of thing is not 

 printed? It is not good business, for it obscures 

 the book's good qualities. 



Many people see common insects like the lady- 

 bird, the devil's coach-horse, the earwig, the frog- 

 hopper, the green-fly, the may-fly, and the wasp, 

 and would like to know more about them, espe- 

 cially if they can get the information not too 

 learnedly expressed. Mr. Crabtree 's book is well 

 adapted to meet this reasonable demand. It deals 

 pleasantly with about three dozen common insects, 

 and there is a generous supply of photographic 

 illustrations. But, again, Mr. Crabtree's reach 

 too often exceeds his grasp ; thus his story of 

 cuckoo-spit is far from correct ; we do not like 

 to hear of female Aphides without ovaries, in 

 which "multiplication occurs by the process of 

 gemmation or budding on the individual Aphis." 

 We are staggered by the crane-fly, the limbs of 

 which are merely hooked together, so that a cap- 

 tured part has only to be hooked off ; and we do 

 not think that a wise approach to a very difficult 

 problem is made by saying : " It may be said with 

 sincerity that the development of instinct in ants 

 is much akin to rea5 on in higher mammals." But, 

 forgiving a lapse in biological philosophy, we are 

 pulled up by errors in grammar, for our eves have 

 fallen on more than one sentence like this : " To 

 the thorax, or chest, is attached the fly's six 

 limbs." Why should a scorpion be referred to 

 as "the dangerous arachnid of the South American 

 forests," and why should an author go out of his 

 way to use an expression like "of that ilk " when 

 he does not know what the words mean? We 

 believe in popular natural history, but it should 

 have a high standard of accuracy, and it should 

 be written in English worthy of the subject. Mr. 

 Crabtree's studies are interesting ; they often 

 describe observations; they are certainly instruc- 

 tive ; but we are bound to say that there are too 

 many flies in the ointment. And many of these 

 flies are gratuitous. 



(7) Miss Thompson tells in a pleasant way of 

 corals and seeds, of the work of water and ice, 

 of springs and seashore animals, and illustrates 

 her talks with very clever drawings. To those 

 who enjoy talks between a somewhat encyclopaedic 

 Miss Marshall and a number of children who ask 

 extraordinarily appropriate and searching ques- 

 tions, the book will be welcome ; our own impres- 

 sion, based on some experiments, is that neither 

 children nor adults care for the " Sandford and 

 Merton " mode of imparting instruction. The 

 author has a very skilful pencil nnd a power of 

 simple exposition ; we wish she had chosen the 

 direct method. J. A. T. 



