January 8, 1903] 



NA TURE 



221 



careful watching of the details of their lives in their 

 natural surroundings that the value of his work consists. 

 Mr. Fountain arrives at times at strange conclusions, 

 especially with regard to the adaptation of form and 

 colour to purposes of concealment. 



"All my experience," he says (p. 78), "tends to show 

 that coloration is at best but a partial protection. It is 

 none whatever to the human eye, and most naturalists 

 incline to the opinion that animals are quicker sighted 

 than men. An inexperienced person may be deceived, 

 the practised hunter never, unless as the result of his 

 carelessness." " Nature's idea is to create a pleasing 

 and curious variety to gratify the eye of man, nothing 

 more" (p. 135). 



But his own pages rebuke him. We are told (pp. 124-5) 

 that ant-bears and sloths 



"look, even when you are close to them, so much like a 

 bundle of the dried herbage that they often escape the 

 eye of the hunter and would be sure to do that of the 

 novice." 



In another place (p. 137), we read that the ant-bear has 

 a habit of turning its large, bushy tail 



" over its back in such a manner that when the animal is 

 squatting on the ground, it is completely hid under it 

 and looks like a tuft of dead grass." 



And again (p. 165), 



"both the two-toed and three-toed sloth ... so much 

 resemble a cluster of dead, dried-up twigs in the trees 

 that they are not easily discovered except by experienced 

 eyes." 



About six days' journey north of Pernatingas, near 

 Diamantino in Matto Grosso, some caves were discovered 

 which would seem to deserve careful examination. The 

 author found the "entire carcass" of an animal in a mass of 

 stalagmite. He attempted to get it out, but it broke in 

 pieces. It was, he states, a species of guanaco of much 

 larger size than any now living. This is, we believe, the 

 first time that the remains of an animal of the llama 

 group have been reported from Matto Grosso, or, indeed, 

 from Brazil. There were also bones that seemed " to have 

 belonged to gigantic jaguars and deer, and many small 

 animals and bats." He conjectures that another animal 

 was 



"of the rhinoceros kind, but if so it was of a hornless 

 species. The bones of tapirs were here in great mass, 

 but of species half as big again as the living kind." 



We can scarcely expect the discovery of a South 

 American rhinoceros to be verified, but the list forms an 

 appetising menu for an osteologist. 



The author's geology must not be taken too seriously, 

 as a reference to an "extensive formation'' of "fused 

 quartz "is sufficient to demonstrate ; but it is interesting 

 to note that in a valley in Ecuador he met with " a mass 

 of pure native iron half embedded in the ground " — ap- 

 parently a meteorite. It weighed five or six hundred- 

 weight and was "in no way oxidised by exposure to the 

 weather." He found a similar mass "on a plain of 

 moderate elevation, as nearly as it is possible to conjecture 

 in the very centre of the southern continent" — a rather 

 vague locality. 



Students of the early history of the South American 

 races will be interested in Mr. Fountain's description of a 



NO. 1732, VOL. 67] 



group of huts formed of large slabs of stone on the shore 

 of a lake near the upper Purus. They are not used by 

 the tribes now inhabiting the country, and were, he 

 believes, constructed by a civilised or semi-civilised 

 people since exterminated. 



The illustrations appear to have been drawn to the 

 author's descriptions. Though picturesque and creditable 

 to the artist's imagination, they cannot, of course, claim 

 to have any value as accurate representations of natural 

 objects. J. W. E. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



European Fungus-Flora, Agaricaceae. By G. Massee, 

 F.L S. Pp. vi + 274. (London: Duckworth and Co., 

 1902.) 



This is a condensed synopsis of the mushrooms and 

 toadstools of this and other European countries, and 

 will be of considerable use to expert collectors of these 

 interesting but difficult plants. 



The author, in his preface, remarks on the false im- 

 pression as to the significance of the term " species " 

 which is obtained by studying the fungi of one country 

 only, and he points out that " the Continental species 

 can be sandwiched in between British species." 



This statement is well borne out by the contents of the 

 book, in which the European species at present unknown 

 as British are thus packed in between our native lorms, 

 and distinctly marked off by square brackets. The 

 method is excellent, and the work, as a whole, well 

 done ; but, useful as the book must be to the expert in 

 the field, we are doubtful whether these short definitions 

 of all known species do not increase difficulties for every- 

 one but the expert. Granted that such a work was wanted, 

 we are strongly convinced that an even greater need at 

 present exists for a well-written and accurate account of 

 the relatively few common types or illustrative species, 

 arranged so as to give clearly the principal characteristics 

 of the genera and subdivisions, and familiarise the 

 student with the commoner species, the species being so 

 chosen that the student shall not have to attempt the — 

 to him often impossible — task of discriminating between 

 closely allied and critical forms until he has familiarised 

 himself with the common types. 



If Stropharia siccipes, Karst., is intermediate between 

 S. semiglobata, Batscli.,and.y. stercoraria, Fr., the student 

 is driven to wonder why the three forms are kept as 

 separate species as here defined, and many similar 

 puzzles will arise in the minds of those who find the 

 "species" of Agarics resting on such characters as 

 these short and pithy paragraphs convey. These puzzles 

 will increase as the varieties of such species as Pluteus 

 cervimts, Schaeff., and Agaricus campestris, L., are com- 

 pared with species of the genera Hypholoma, Lac- 

 tarius, Cortinarius, &c. 



Excellent as the definitions are, moreover, there are 

 points which require improvement — e.g. the genus 

 Lepiota is said to have " Ring present, volva absent " on 

 p. 2 ; but on turning to p. 7, we read under Lepiota, 

 "Ring free, distinct from the volva." Such ambiguities 

 are trivial to experts, but they are serious difficulties to 

 others, and they could be avoided. 



Some questions of termination arise on pp. 206 

 (bottom) and 227 — e.g. is it Ag. rubellus, Gillet, or Ag. 

 rubella, &c. ? 



In conclusion, the book is fully indexed and carefully 

 arranged, and is well printed on paper so light that, in 

 spite of the thickness of the volume, it can be carried 

 into the field, and it is essentially as a field-book that it 

 can be recommended. 



