154 Miscellaneous. 



We should mention that the numerous illustrations, though not 

 original, are taken from a variety of sources, many of which are not 

 very easily accessible, and a considerable number from American 

 periodicals. 



There is mi;ch work still to be done in entomology, and as each 

 generation of entomologists starts with far greater facilities for 

 work than their predecessors have enjoyed, it is from the younger 

 entomologists, like Mr. Carpenter, that we may confidently expect 

 a large increase of our knowledge of the insect-world. 



Cries and Call-notes of Birds : ivitli Musical Illustrations. 

 Ey C. A. WiTCHELL. 8vo. Upcott Gill, 1899. 



The study which Mr. Witchell has for years past devoted to the 

 songs and notes of birds, and his musical training, have fitted him 

 beyond all other ornithologists to produce a reliable popular work 

 on the subject. 



To those who have read with pleasure Mr. Witchell's most 

 fascinating book ' The Evolution of Bird-Song,' the present more 

 modest little work will be welcome ; it occupies only eighty pages, 

 but these are crowded with information. The effort to record the 

 Nightingale's song in musical notation is a marvel of patient effort 

 and indomitable pluck on the part of the author. We would 

 recommend all lovers of British birds to spend a shilling in securing 

 this valuable addition to their libraries. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 Parthenogenesis. By Thomas Meehajt. 



It is about two hundred years ago since Camerarius recorded the 

 fact that female mulberries and other trees would produce fruit 

 without pollinization, though such fruit was sterile. These obser- 

 vations have since been abundantly confirmed. The necessity of 

 pollen to fertile seed came to be regarded as absolute law until 

 some fifty years ago, when the Curator at Kew, Mr. John Smith, 

 announced that an Australian plant of which he had but one female 

 specimen perfected its seeds. It proved to be a new Euphorbiacese, 

 and he named it Coilebogyne ilicifolia — the generic name from its 

 supposed parthenogenetal character. 



The author of this paper was a student in Kew at that time, and 

 well remembers the incredulity with which the announcement was 

 received, that nature should seem to make a universal law in relation 

 to method of reproduction, and yet make a striking exception in 

 this case. Nature furnishes infinite variation, but these variations 

 seem to be only of one general plan. It seemed more probable 

 that, in some method unexplained, pollen had been formed, and 

 really pollinated the embryo. It does not appear that any further 

 observations on this plant were made at Kew, or, if made, recorded. 



Strasburger took up the subject again in 1878 ; but though my 

 jjood friend Mr. George Nicholson, Curator of Kew, writes under 

 date of April 10, 1897, that "the whole business has been threshed 

 out by Strasburger," the latter seems to be more concerned about 



