January 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



469 



British Botanic Gardens and Stations. 



In the article on British botanic gardens and 

 stations in the jubilee number of Nature (p. 263) the 

 statement is made that by the middle of the eighteenth 

 century, when Kew and the Botanic Garden at St. 

 Vincent were founded, "the purpose of botanical col- 

 lections had become largely limited to the assemblage 

 of plants interesting because of their rarity. Presently 

 a healthy reaction against this rather narrow outlook 

 arose . . .," and the example is quoted of the Cal- 

 cutta Garden, founded in 1786 for the purpose, not of 

 collecting rare plants as articles of curiosity, etc.( "but 

 for establishing a stock for disseminating such articles 

 as may prove beneficial to the inhabitants, as well as 

 to the natives of Great Britain, and which ultimately 

 may tend to the extension of the national commerce 

 and riches." Your contributor appears to have over- 

 looked the fact that a very similar purpose underlay 

 the founding of the St. Vincent Garden, as shown by 

 the advertisement which appeared in the Transactions 

 of the Society of Arts for 1762, offering a reward "to 

 anyone who would cutivate a spot in the West Indies 

 in which plants useful as medicine and profitable as 

 articles of commerce might be propagated, and where 

 nurseries of the valuable productions of Asia and other 

 distant parts might be formed for the benefit of his 

 Majesty's Colonies." 



I am glad to add that the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, attained its centenary this year. 



W. E. Freeman, 

 Director of Agriculture. 



St. Clair Experiment Station, Port-of-Spain, 

 December 6. 



I AM very grateful to Dr. Freeman for having 

 directed attention to the existence of this interesting 

 documentary evidence that West Indian public opinion 

 in 1762 was a quarter of a century in advance of 

 official opinion in the East Indies. This conclusion is 

 pointed to bv the circumstance that there was a 

 demand in the West Indies for such sumptuous works 

 as "The Natural Historv of Barbados," bv Griffith 

 Hughes, published in 1750; "The Natural History 

 of Carolina. Florida, and the Bahamas," written by 

 Mark Catesby, revised after Catesby's death by 

 G. Edwards, and published in 17:4; and "The 

 Natural Historv of Tamaica," by Patrick Browne, 

 published in 17^6, of which a second edition was 

 called for in i^Sn. It is important to have this con- 

 clusion definitelv confirmed. 



The Writer of the .Xrtici.e. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA.^ 



MR. FITZ.SIMONS'S volumes are not strictly 

 zoolotjical treatises. They are intended 

 to supply information about the vvay.s and habits 

 of the creatures of veld, forest, mountain, and 

 stream. It sounds somewhat strange to hear 

 mammals referred to as belong^ing' to the "lower 

 animal kingdom." The author speaks sometimes 

 of " animals and birds " ; in other places he alludes 

 to "birds and mammals," while the bats are 

 spoken of as "flying mammals." Since this work 

 is addressed to school teachers, senior pupils, and 

 the general public, it would have been better to 

 explain what is meant bv "mammals" and retain 

 the term throughout. Mr. Fitzsimons holds the 

 view that the leopards in wild countries unin- 



1 "The Natural History of South Afrira." By F. W. Fitzsi'non.s. 

 " Mammals." In four volume*. Vol. i., pp xix-1 178 ; Vol. ii.. pp. xi + 195. 

 (I^nHon ; Longmans. Green, and Co., 1Q19.) Price 9T. each vol. 



habited by man "are still fulfilling the mission for 

 which the Creator evolved them " (i., p. 120), and 

 that "it is essential that the old, decrepit, or mal- 

 formed animals should not be allowed to live and 

 breed, otherwise the great plan of the Creator in 

 perfecting the various forms of life would be 

 marred " (ii., p. 79). 



These and other views may not be acceptable to 

 the modern zoologist, but there can be no doubt 

 about the importance and interest of these two 

 volumes to all lovers of natural history, and par- 

 ticularly to those who keep monkeys and other 

 mammals as pets and to the guardians of our 

 Zoological Gardens. A charm of style and a 

 freedom from errors distinguish the volumes. 

 The vivid descriptions of the habits of the blue 

 ape and the Chacma baboon, as well as of those of 



I —.V hahy Vervet monkey, born at the Port Elizabeth Museutn. 

 From " The Natural History of South Africa." 



manv other species, are fascinating to read. The 

 author gives us further particulars of the wonder- 

 ful story we heard long ago of "Jack," the 

 Chacma which acted as signalman on a South 

 African railway line. When his master, to 

 whom he was devotedly attached, became incapaci- 

 tated, owing to an injury, "Jack" took over his 

 duties. He worked even the levers on the line by 

 himself (i., pp. 61-67), ^rid finally pushed his master 

 home every night on a little railway truck. This 

 marvellous story is fullv substantiated by credit- 

 able witnesses. 



Mr. I'itzsimons had a serva! which was as 

 tame as any domestic cat, and even when full- 

 grown it did not lose any of its playfulness, and 



NO. 2619, VOL. 104] 



