202 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



creature that most closely approximates to man in intelligence ; and 

 indeed it is a wonderful thing to read of the stage performances of the 

 Chimpanzee " Peter," who seemed to remember, and to carry out without 

 Inistake, a sequence of fifty-six separate acts. But this was at the 

 expense of a nervous energy beyond Peter's natural store, with the 

 result that he eventually succumbed to the strain. Following the 

 Chimpanzee, in order of intelligence, come the Orang-Utan and the 

 Indian Elephant, the domestic Horse and Dog, succeeded at no far 

 distance by the Beaver, the Grizzly Bear, of which some extraordinary 

 tales are told, the Lion, and so on, through a long series. 



More general chapters deal with fear in animals, fighting, animal 

 criminals, and an excellent and reasonable summary of the rights of 

 wild animals. The book is written with unusual directness and vigour. 

 It makes lively reading. We have just a lingering notion that the 

 author's interpretations are often coloured by too human a judgment, 

 that perhaps the "intelligence" he discerns, lacks something of the 

 quality we usually associate with the word ; but he states his facts, a 

 valuable body of evidence, and the reader is at liberty to use his own 

 judgment. 



Memories of the Months, Seventh Series. By the Right Hon. 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D. London: 

 Edward Arnold & Co., 1922. Large Crown 8vo., pp. xiii + 260. 

 Price I OS. 6d. net. 



After an interval of three years we welcome the appearance of a 

 further series of Sir Herbert Maxwell's charming essays in a volume 

 which is well up to the standard of its predecessors. The author has 

 a facile pen, and his notes cover a remarkably wide field, showing, 

 at the same time, a wonderful keenness of observation and an unusually 

 happy power of imparting, in an exceedingly readable fashion, informa- 

 tion acquired through exceptional opportunities and backed by an 

 extensive knowledge of classical and other lore. The combination 

 of these gifts with a becoming modesty and no little sense of humour, 

 is seen in a series of over fifty fascinating essays, which carry the reader 

 pleasantly on until he very reluctantly turns the last page, and, like 

 Oliver Twist, is tempted to ask for more. We note very few slips, the 

 most important of which is an inaccuracy on p. no regarding the 

 stamens of Salvia. In this genus, the rods against which an insect 

 presses, are the lower ends of elongated and hinged connectives, and 

 each represents only half a stamen.^ the other half of the same stamen 

 bearing a single anther-lobe which alone develops pollen. The author 

 mistakenly refers to these anther-lobes as the anthers on the perfect 

 stamens. On p. 41, 1. 6., P.M. should be a.m. ; p. 121, 1. 4, Collocalia, 

 1. 15, Sfenopferyx, and p. 125, 1. 4, nummidarifolia are misprinted. 



