59^^ 



NATURE 



[October 22, 1903 



of it relates to insects which are found in Europe as 

 well as in America, and it appears to be accurate and 

 trustworthy. We may, however, dispute the state- 

 ment which we meet with here, not for the first time, 

 that the small cockroach {Blatta germanica), called in 

 America the croton bug, " is supposed to have been 

 brought to England by soldiers from the Crimea," if 

 this is supposed to imply that it was then first intro- 

 duced into England, for it was well known as an in- 

 habitant of most parts of Europe, England included, 

 long before that time, though it may perhaps have be- 

 come commoner after the Crimean War. 



Frequently the information is directly addressed to 

 the children who are supposed to be instructed, as : — 



" MoUie wants to know why it would not be a good 

 plan for people who live where there are many mosqui- 

 toes to raise dragonflies? " 



" That is a very sensible idea, MoUie, and it has 

 been tried." 



Mrs. Comstock is already well known as an entom- 

 ologist, especially as the illustrator of her husband's 

 "Manual for the Study of Insects," &c. Her book 

 consists of a series of ten popular articles on entom- 

 ology, most of which have previously appeared in 

 magazines. The subjects are " Pipers and Minne- 

 singers " (mosquitoes, cicadas, crickets, &c.), " A 

 Little Nomad " {Incurvaria acerifoliella), " A Sheep 

 in Wolf's Clothing " {Basilarchia archippus mimick- 

 ing Anosia plexippus), " The Perfect Socialism " (bees, 

 ants, termites and wasps), " Two Mother Masons " 

 (Pelopaeus and Eumenes), " The Story we Love 

 Best " {Ceratina dupla), " A Dweller in Tents " 

 {Panto grapha litnata), " A Tactful Mother " (Chry- 

 sopa), " A Seine Maker " (Hydropsyche), and " Hermit 

 and Troubadour " (Cicada). 



The book is written in a popular and attractive, but 

 not childish, style, and is very nicely illustrated. 

 There are forty-seven illustrations altogether, several 

 of which occupy a full page. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts, Maps, and Draw- 

 ings in the British Museum {Natural History). 

 Vol. i., A— D. Pp. 500. (London : Printed by 

 Order of the Trustees, 1903.) 

 Few even of the habitues of the Natural History 

 Museum have any adequate idea of the extent and 

 value of the collection of books on natural history (in 

 its widest sense) subjects contained within its walls. 

 Nor is this difficult to account for. Owing to the 

 exigencies of work, the collection is split up into a 

 zoological, a geological, a mineralogical, a botanical, 

 and a general library, the latter containing all those 

 works which treat of subjects belonging to more than 

 one department of the museum. But even this sub- 

 division by no means expresses the real facts of the 

 case, the various departmental libraries being further 

 divided into subsections. For instance, the bird room, 

 the spirit building, the entomological department 

 have each libraries of their own, while even individual 

 officers who have charge of one group of animals 

 possess a collection of books in their own rooms. 



In these circumstances there can be no question but 

 that the director has been well advised in recommend- 

 ing the Trustees to sanction the publication of the 



NO. 1773, VOL. 68] 



" Catalogue," of which the first volume is before us, 

 since it is certain that such a series of volumes will 

 be of great interest and value not only to workers in 

 the museum, but likewise to naturalists and biblio- 

 graphists all over the world. 



The collection had its origin in the departmental 

 libraries of the establishment at Bloomsbury, and was 

 largely augmented by purchase, by means of a special 

 Parliamentary grant, at the time of, and subsequent 

 to, the transference of the natural history collections 

 to South Kensington. An Important addition was the 

 bequest of the Tweeddale library, some years after the 

 transference. In spite of certain gaps, the collection 

 is believed to be one of the finest in the world. When 

 complete, it Is estimated that the catalogue will include 

 some 60,000 entries, the present volume containing 

 about one-fourth of this number. 



The editing has been confided to Mr. B. B. Wood- 

 ward, who, in the present volume, appears to have 

 discharged an arduous task with conspicuous success. 

 Although the work is only an " author-catalogue," 

 many of the entries contain information with regard 

 to the contents of the works, their dates of publica- 

 tion, or other bibliographical detail. It should be 

 added that, on account of their special interest and 

 importance, four subject-headings, namely, atlases, 

 dictionaries, encycIopEedlas, and gazetteers, have been 

 included. " R. L. 



A Class Book of Botany. By G. P. Mudge and A. J. 



Maslen. Pp. xvl + 512. (London : Edward 



Arnold, n.d.) Price 7s. 6d. 

 The scope of this book Is somewhat ambitious, for 

 although it is limited to the requirements of inter- 

 mediate examinations, it takes up in considerable 

 detail the four main branches of botany. Morphology 

 and anatomy are treated in the course of a series 

 of types ; classification with special chapters on floral 

 morphology and physiology occupy the second and 

 third parts of the book. Judging by experience, the 

 relegation of morphology to the amount which Is 

 distributed throughout the discussion of a series of 

 types is Injudicious, because a sound knowledge of 

 external morphology Is necessary to the elementary 

 student, partly as a preliminary to anatomy and 

 generally as a foundation for other branches of the 

 subject. It should be pointed out that the authors 

 have not tied down the types to one or two specimens, 

 but, where necessary, additional examples are given ; 

 nevertheless, the specific training value of a morpho- 

 logical introduction is wanting. Further, by adopt- 

 ing the type system, the authors provoke comparison 

 with the admirable book written by Dr. Scott, more 

 especially since the cryptogamic types are practically 

 the same in both cases, and Mr. Mudge is not en- 

 dowed with the same happy power of expression, nor 

 does he display the accuracy which distinguishes the 

 " Structural Botany." The style Is, indeed, too rigid, 

 and this only serves to emphasise the numerous 

 mistakes or to give rise to misconceptions. To 

 mention a few instances v/e find p. 13, " a root . . . 

 always . . . grows downward"; p. 16, "spines have 

 become enlarged and form thorns"; p. 60, "the 

 petiole is polystelic "; and p. 80, a samara is described 

 as a " winged, one-seeded capsule." 



Turning to the chapters dealing with classification 

 and morphology of the flower, for which Mr. Maslen 

 is responsible, these are much more satisfactory, and 

 both in choice and arrangement of subject-matter 

 the author's judgment commends itself. The physio- 

 logical section might with advantage be more 

 practical, and would be much improved by some re- 

 arrangement. It is not obvious why the consideration 

 of the absorption of food material by the roots should 



