68 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 23, 1871 



is a very general feeder, and may be found, on a consi- 

 derable number of trees and plants. It is quite common, 

 and but for its curious form, would certainly be found 

 much more frequently than is the case. The perfect insect 

 appears about July, and can be beaten out of bushes and 

 ■ hedges. Though the wings are large, ihey are thin and 

 not very powerful, so that there is no difficulty in captur- 

 ing the insect." 



Of course much of the book consists of more interesting 

 matter than this, but hundreds of pages are filled with 

 such verbose and meagre passages as those quoted, which 

 are far more repulsive to the learner than the most con- 

 densed and technical description. Those given in Stain- 

 ton's Manual, for instance, contain more than double the 

 actual information in about one fourth of the space. 



The book is illustrated by copious woodcuts in the 

 letterpress and by several whole-page pictures. The 

 former are most admirable, and do great credit to the 

 artist, Mr. E. A. Smith. We select a group of Water 

 Beetles (Cut vi.), and one of the minute and curious para- 

 sitic Hymenoptera (Cut xxxii.) as examples of these 

 excellent figures, which would do credit to a far more 

 scientific work. The whole-page illustrations are by 

 another hand, and are in every respect inferior. Some of 

 them contain fair representations of msects in their haunts, 

 but the vegetation is generally badly di'awn, and the plants 

 said to be figured are often quite unrecognisable. The 

 best and most artistic picture is Plate vili., representing 

 a group of Neuroptera with aquatic vegetation. The 

 worst is Plate XIX., representing aquatic Heteroptera. 

 The insects are pretty well drawn, but the plants are 

 dreadful. One of them is said to be the Starwort (Aster 

 iripoliuin). What is meant for this stands prominently 

 out in the view ; but the artist has evidently never seen the 

 plant, and, trusting to his imagination to invent something 

 suited to the name, has perched three thick six-rayed star- 

 fish on bending stalks. We venture to assert that no 

 plant having the fainiest resemblance to this monstrosity 

 forms part of the British flora, and its introduction into a 

 modern work on natural history is most discreditable. It 

 is painful to have to speak in the^e terms of the work of 

 an author who has done so much to popularise natural 

 history as Mr. Wood, but we must protest against mere 

 book-making ; and in ihis case there could be no pretence 

 of a want to be supplied, since the excellent series of 

 " Introductions " published by Messrs. Reeve and the more 

 general works of Prof. Duncan, Dr. Packard, and others, 

 are far better guides to the student or to the general reader 

 than such a hatty and imperfect compilation as the present 

 volume. A. R. W. 



NOTES 



The Council of the Royal Society have awarded the medals in 

 their gift for the present year as follows :— The Copley Medal, to 

 Julius Robert Mayer, of Heilbronn ; the Royal Medals to Mr. 

 George Busk, F.R.S., and Dr. John Stcnhouse, F.R.S. 



Prof. Archibald Geikie is desirous of addressing himself 

 through our columns to those of our readers who were friends 

 and currespondents of Sir Roderick Murchison. They would 

 much oblige and assist him if they would let him have the use of 

 such of his letters as they can allow to be employed in the pre- 

 paration of the biography which, at Sir Roderick's request, he 

 has undertaken to write. If the documents are sent to him at 

 Ramsay Lodge, Edinburgh, they will be returned at the earliest 

 possible date. 



From the EngUsh Government Eclipse Expedition we learn 

 that since leaving Malta, on the evening of Saturday the 4th, 

 the wtather has been all that could be wished, and that Mr. 

 Lockyer and the other members of the expedition have not 

 failed to take all possible advantage of the calm weather in 



testing their instruments and preparing themselves in every 

 possible way for rapid yet correct observations during the few 

 minutes over which the phenomena of the morning of the 12th 

 December will extend. The Mirzapore commenced steering 

 through the canal at 2.30 on the 8th, and anchored in Suez 

 Roadstead at twelve on the loth, all well. It was hoped that 

 she might sail by daylight on the morning of Sunday, the 12th. 

 In that case she might get to Galle by the 25th, and the Expedition 

 would then have seventeen days at their disposal for arranging 

 themselves and their instruments over the line of totality, from 

 the north of Ceylon to the western shore of Southern India. 

 The passage through the Canal has been a pleasant and interest- 

 ing one. 



The Falconer Memorial Fellowship, at the University of 

 Edinburgh, which is of the annual value of about 100/., tenable 

 for two years, has been conferred on Mr. William Stirling, 

 B. Sc. The Baxter Physical Science Scholarship, vacant by the 

 appointment of Mr. William Stirling, to the Falconer Memorial 

 Fellowship, has been conferred for one year on Mr. Alexander 

 Hodgkinson. 



Mr. p. L. Simmonds is now delivering at the London Insti- 

 tution, Finsbury Circus, the Travers Course for 1S71-2, on Science 

 and Commerce, illustrated by the raw materials of our manu- 

 factures, in two lectures, the first of which will be this evening, 

 and the second on November 30th. 



Prok. Partridge commenced his annual course of lectures 

 on Anatomy to the pupils and Royal Academicians in the new 

 theatre at Burlington House on Monday last week, and will con- 

 tinue the same every Monday evening up to December 1 1 in- 

 clusive, at eight o'clock. 



Among the disastrous results of the recent fire at Chicago, 

 one not referred to in the public papers was, we regret to learn 

 from Harper's Weekly, the entire destruction of the building and 

 collections of the Academy of Sciences of that city. This insti- 

 tution, first started by the energy of the late Mr. Robert Kennicott, 

 and carried to its late condition of prosperity under the 

 charge of Dr. William Stirapson, had already taken a front rank 

 among the learned establishments of the country. Its publica- 

 tions embraced material of the utmost value, while its museum 

 ranked at least as high as tlie fifth in the United States. Although 

 believed to be fire-proof, the building;, like others of the same 

 character in Chicago, presented but little resistance to the flames, 

 and everything within the walls was destroyed. The loss in- 

 cluded, besides the collections in natural history of the Academy, 

 a large number of marine invertebrates belonging to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, which had been forwarded to Dr. Stimpson 

 for investigation. The private cabinet of this gentleman, and a 

 large mass of valuable manuscript belonging to him, embracing 

 extended memoirs upon the moUusca, radiata, and Crustacea of 

 North America, with numerous illustrations, were entirely 

 destroyed. 



After a seven years' tour of exploration in South America, 

 Dr. A. Habel, a former resident of Hastingson-the-IIudson, has 

 returned to New York, where he is assiduously engaged in pre- 

 paring the results of his labours for the press. Among the 

 regions traversed by this gentleman may be mentioned the greater 

 part of Central America, the Cordilleras of the Andes in Co- 

 lombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and finally the Chincha Islands and 

 the Galapagos. During this whole period Dr. Habel was dlli- 

 gendy occupied in gathering information in regard to the natural 

 and physical history of the countries mentioned, especially in the 

 departments of ethnology, meteorology, and zoology. He has 

 already made some communications on the subject of his travels 

 to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and other learned bodies, 

 and we look forward to his detailed report with anticipations of 



