Crown 8vo. clolli extra, (>s. 



THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



By grant ALLEN. 



'There can be no doubt of Mr. Grant Allen's competence as a writer on natural 



history subjects In the present volume he has selected such natural objects as 



may for the most part be met wiih in any country walk — a wild strawberry, a snail-shell, 

 a tadixilc. a butterfly, a bird, or a wavMde flower— the more striking external features 



pf which he seeks to e.xpl.iin by the lijjnt of evolutionary principles The author 



is as much at home amoii); pl.-uits as among animals, and probably his most enjoyable 

 papers are those in which he discourses on the use to the plants themselves of the colours 

 of (lowers, the sweetness of fruits, and the hardness of nuts. The essays — twenty-three 

 in number arc neither long nor deep, but they give a broad general view of the prmciples 

 and methods of evolution, couched m clear, unlechnical, and oftentimes racy language, 

 and are thus admirably adapted for their intended purpose.' — Scotsman. 



'Mr. Allen's method of treatment, a.s explanatory of the scientific revolution known 

 as evi^lution, gives a sort of personality ami human character to the trout or the straw- 

 berry blossom, which invests them with additionxil charm, and makes many of his pages 



read more like a fanciful fairy tale than a scientific work Mr. Allen's essays 



ought to open many a half-closed eye.'— Manchester Examiner. 



Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 6s. 



VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



By grant ALLEN. 



These sketches are equally admir.able as lessons in science and impressions of country 

 experience. Mr. Allen posses.ses that genuine feeling for Nature which makes a man find 

 unfailing delight not merely in a survey from the mountain tops and a walk over the breezy 

 moorland, but in the weeds by the roadside and hedge bank.'— Manchester Examiner. 



' Mr. Allen has followed his " Evolutionist at Large" with another volume much in 

 the same happy style, and dealing with aspects of nature allied to those treated in the 

 work just named. The praise we bestowed on the" Evolutionist" may be transferred 

 to " Vignettes from Nature," for the pre.sent work is not less instructive or entertaining 

 than its predeces.sor From our author's point of view, then, we are led by well- 

 nigh a royal road, so smoothly does he conduct his readers over the technique of his 

 subject, to learn something of the pha.ses of nature which the philosophy of Darwin and 



Spencer seek to explain Thore are thousands who will find in Mr. Allen's pages 



a mass of information, the perusal ol which is certain to send them straight to other and 

 larger tomes, by way of continuing the interesting studies to which this book may so 

 happily introduce them.'— Dundee Advertiser. 



• In some of Mr. Allen's Sketches he almost gives the idea that he is playing at being 

 a naturalist ; but he is ever an easy, graceful, and light-hearted observer of nature, with 

 a strong bias towards Spencer and a leaning on Darwin as his chief counsellors and 

 friends. With a love of nature Wordsworthian in its intensity, Mr. Allen goes a hunt- 

 ing over Sussex wolds and dowris, and finds meet pastures in Welsh hills and Dorset 



lanes Mr. Allen is zoological, antinuari.an, and botanical by turns, but he is never 



one thing for long ; and his varying moods will serve to interest and enchant the reader 

 who, whilst disdaining more solid fare in popidar science, will yet listen to the teachings 



of so skilled a mentor as Mr. Allen proves himself to be We have found nothing 



in Mr. Allen's book but what merits praise ; and we may warmly commend it to the 

 attention of all who desire a pleasant text-book of popular zoology and botany.' — 

 Glasgow Herald. 



*Of the twenty-two essays of which the volume is composed there is not one which 

 docs not bear the impress of original thought and widely-extended knowledge of natural 

 history -Tahlkt. 



LTIATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, ^V 



