276 



NATURE 



[January 17, 1895 



map directly from the country as copy, and renders un- 

 necessary the making of elaborate notes, sketches, photo- 

 graphs. &c., which is not only more expensive, but pro- 

 duces inferior results." As the instrument is perhaps 

 not widely known in our own country, we may say that 

 it consists of a drawing-board mounted on a tripod in 

 such a way that it can be levelled, turned in azimuth, 

 and clamped in any position. At the centre of the board 

 is pivoted the alidade, consisting of a ruler with a gradu- 

 ated bevelled edge, to which is attached a pair of sights 

 for rough work, or a telescope for work of a higher class. 

 A small graduated arc is provided in the better-class in- 

 strument for the measurement of vertical angles, but the 

 horizontal directions are plotted directly, by means of the 

 alidade, on a sheet of paper stretched on the board. The 

 edge of the board is set in the same direction when the 

 instrument is in use at ditierent points in the area being j 

 mapped, and horizontal locations are thus readily 

 determined bv intersections. ' 



LIFE A T THE ZOO) 

 A SIGN of the increasing interest shown by the out- 

 ■^*- side world in all questions concerning life, and 

 more especially animal life, is evidenced by the far 

 greater number of books published every year on popular 

 natural history. 



The past year witnessed the commencement of 

 several large works, such as the " Royal Natural 

 History," edited by Mr. Lydekker ; the republication of 

 " Jardine's Naturalists' Library,' edited by Dr. R. B. 

 Sharpe : and the " Cambridge Natural History," of 

 which, so far, only one volume has appeared, liesides 

 these there have been issued a number of smaller works 

 not extending over so wide a ground. 



The present volume consists of a number of shot' 

 articles on various natural history topics more or less 

 directly connected with the Zoological Society's tiardens, 

 illustrated with reproductions of some of Gambier Bolton's 

 successful photographs of the animals found there. A 



li',, I. — The Tieer listening to s -ft mu^ 



The -.imple form of plane table is now exclusively 

 used by the .Survey for the ordinary traverse work. Dis- 

 tance measurements in this class of work are made in 

 the usual way by counting the revolutions of a wheel, 

 an "odometer" being used for this purpose. 



The manual abounds in practical hints on the various 

 points connected with surveying, and concludes with a 

 brief account of the office work which is so important a 

 supplement to work in the field. 



The numerous appendices consist of tables to be used 

 in the various computations, and are complete enough to 

 include even a table of logarithms. 



It is not too much to say that Prof, (iannett has pro- 

 duced a manual which will be of interest to many not 

 actually engaged in surveying, while at the same time it 

 forms a very valuable supplement to the ordinary works 

 on the subject. A. lowLEk. 



NO. 1316, VOL. 51] 



considerable number of these sketches have already 

 appeared before in the pages of the Spectator, but many 

 chapters have been added, and the whole forms a very 

 agreeable repertoire of gossip, with, in some cases, pre- 

 tensions to higher things in the shape of accounts of ex- 

 periments on the xsthetics of the animal world. 



One of the most interesting of the articles directly con- 

 nected with the Zoo is that on " IClephant I-ife in 

 England." The number of elephants now in F.urope, 

 chiefly in circuses and men.-igeries, is considerable. ."Vlr. 

 Cornish gives it at .about 120, of which England possesses 

 about thirty-four. With some half-dozen exceptions, all 

 these elephants belong to the Indian species, and arc 

 mostly imported from Burma, where they are bred in a 

 half-wild state. The African elephant, according to our 



' " I^ife at the Zoo. Notes .ind Traditions of the Regent^ Park Gardens. 

 By C. J. Cornish. 8vo. (London : Seeley and Co., tS^^s.) 



