August 25. 1898J 



NA rURE 



389 



species, these appear fairly accurate ; and many little 

 anecdotes of habits, &c., are related in a manner which 

 can scarcely fail to attract attention. 



Although both from the artistic and the strictly 

 scientific standpoints, the volume, in our judgment, is 

 somewhat of a failure, yet as an earnest and brightly- 

 written attempt to popularise the study of the commoner 

 North American birds, it is deserving of attention on 

 the part of residents in the States who want to know 

 more about the ways of the feathered creatures with 

 which they meet. R. L- 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Symons's British Rainfall, 1897. By G. J. Symons, 



F.RS., and H. Sowerby VVallis. Pp. 58 + 239. 



(London : Edward Stanford, 1898.) 

 An interesting article on the mean annual rainfall in the 

 English Lake district appears in this new volume of 

 " British Rainfall," in continuation of articles published 

 in the volumes for the years 1895 ^"<i 1896. The earlier 

 contributions showed the rainfall at Seathwaite from 

 1845 fo 1895, and the rainfall within an area of about 

 thirty square miles having Seathwaite nearly in the 

 centre. In the present volume a much larger area— 

 about 650 square miles— is dealt with from the point of 

 view of rainfall, and a number of noteworthy conclusions 

 are reached. The paper is accompanied by an oro- 

 graphical map, and a map showing by means of isohyetal 

 lines — that is, lines of equal mean annual rainfall — the 

 distribution of the precipitation in the district. This 

 map shows that annual rainfalls exceeding 100 inches 

 occur over more than seventy square miles. A high rain 

 fall appears to be established at the head of the Lang- 

 dales, trustworthy observations giving a mean of 1297 

 inches at Mickleden, which value is within five inches of 

 the rainfall at Seathwaite. 



Mr. Symons points out that the rainfall differs very 

 greatly, even within a few miles. An examination of the 

 records of three pairs of stations, separated by 3^, 2|, 

 and i^ miles respectively, showed the increase per mile 

 to be 28 inches, 21 inches, and 71 inches respectively, 

 the last-named representing a difference of 0*04 inch per 

 yard. 



Heavy rains in short periods appear to have been more 

 frequent in 1897 than they generally are. Large rainfalls 

 in twenty-four hours were also noteworthy. One of the 

 heaviest rains on record in the United Kingdom occurred 

 at Seathwaite on November 12, 1897, the fall in twenty- 

 four hours ending at 9 a.m. on November 13 being 8'03 

 inches — that is, more than half an inch greater than any 

 diurnal record during fifty-three years. As to the relation 

 which the total fall of rain in 1897 bears to the average 

 amount, Mr. Symons finds that, for England and Wales, 

 and Scotland as a whole, the fall in 1897 was the same 

 as the average fall for the period 1880-89, but in Ireland 

 it was twelve per cent, in excess. 



The number of observers who now send their records 

 to Mr. Symons is 3318, and credit is certainly due to him 

 for the organisation of this vast staff, and to the authors 

 combined for their work of reducing the observations to 

 law and order. 



Storia Natural-, per la gioventii Italiana. liy Achille 

 Griffini, Assistant at the Royal Zoological Museum, 

 University of Turin. Pp.720. (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 

 1898.) 



Encyclopaedias in one volume are not much in vogue 

 in England, and this one needs but a short notice. It 



NO. 1504, VOL. 58] 



embraces the whole range of zoology, botany, and 

 mineralogy, and seems to be the result of much laborious 

 I compilation and condensation. But surely such labour 

 is all but thrown away ; such a book can never really 

 interest young people, or train them in the habit of 

 attention and observation. If a new butterfly or fossil be 

 met with, the book may perhaps be consulted, but will 

 in all likelihood be found either to have on^.itted the 

 species altogether, or to have given so inadequate a 

 description as to make identification a mere guess-work. 

 This is no fault of Dr. Griffini, who has worked con- 

 scientiously, and has been obliged, as he says with a 

 sigh, to suspend all his scientific research during the 

 composition of the book : it means simply that it is 

 impossible in the given space to deal with any one 

 species in a way that can be called either scientific or 

 interesting. Here is an example — a description of one 

 of the most singular and beautiful birds in Europe : — 



" Tichodroma murat ia {the wall-creeper), length 17 cm., 

 of an ash-grey colour with red and black wings : the 

 male has a black throat, but in the female this is whitish. 

 It lives on the tops of the Alps and Apennines, climbs 

 with agility, often poises itself on its wings during flight, 

 and feeds on insects." 



This account may be said to be devoid of all the 

 qualities which should attract the "gioventu Italiana," 

 or fix this curious bird in their memories: it is incom- 

 plete and inaccurate, as well as uninteresting ; and it is 

 obvious that the writer had never seen the bird alive. 

 But many species are much more minutely described, and 

 illustrated by very fairly good woodcuts, which are better 

 than the coloured plates containing each a large number 

 of species crammed into a small space. And there is no 

 doubt a certain advantage to beginners in having a 

 survey of the whole field of natural history for purposes 

 of classification as well as ordinary reference. Yet for 

 helping the beginner and awakening his interest, our 

 own plan of issuing a series of handy volumes seems far 

 better both for authors, readers, and publishers. 



Iowa Geological Survey. Vol. vii. Annual Report, 

 1896, with accompanying papers. Pp. 555. (Des 

 Moines: Iowa Geological Survey, 1897.) 



The papers in this report contain descriptions of the 

 geological characteristics of six counties in Iowa, namely, 

 Johnson and Cerro Gordo Counties, described by Dr. 

 Samuel Calvin, State Geologist ; Marshall County, by 

 Dr. S. W. Beyer ; Polk and Guthrie Counties, by Mr. 

 H. F. Bain ; and Madison County, by Prof. J. L. Tilton 

 and Mr. H. F. Bain. These counties are geologically 

 important in regard to both indurated rocks and super- 

 ficial deposits, and the report upon them, with the many 

 maps and diagrams, will be found of interest and service 

 to the people of Iowa. 



In addition to the counties reported upon in the 

 present volume, a large amount of other work is referred 

 to in the administrative report. Thus, investigations 

 undertaken with the object of determming the dis- 

 tribution of certain types of soil and their relation to the 

 drift-sheets covering the State, have incidentally demon- 

 strated that the succession of Pleistocene deposits is 

 more complete and more clearly indicated in Iowa than 

 in any other corresponding area of the North American 

 Continent so far studied. Another interesting subject 

 referred to is the discovery of a remarkable fish fauna in 

 an old slate quarry in Johnson County. The beds in 

 which the remains occur are of Devonian age ; but it is 

 said that no such assemblage of Devonian fishes has 

 hitherto been found in North America, or in the world. 

 The material has been placed in the hands of Dr. C. R. 

 Eastman, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has undertaken to 

 study it. 



