October 24, 1901J 



NA TURE 



625 



one. The existing treatises on British reptiles are either 

 antiquated or compiled by writers insufficiently versed in 

 the subject. It is only regrettable that Dr. Leighton, 

 whilst engaged in the preparation of this little work, 

 which contains much interesting matter, should not have 

 made himself more thoroughly acquainted with what has 

 been published on the subject, in England at least, as 

 we notice the omission of important information which 

 might have been obtained through reference to the 

 volumes of the Zooh\i(is! and to the British Museum 

 Catalogue of Snakes, of which he appears to be 

 ignorant. The descriptions of the three species which 

 make up the British ophidian fauna are inadequate, and 

 this is all the more to be regretted since many points 

 of structure and coloration which are subject to variation 

 would have afforded an important topic in which to 

 arouse the interest of the field-naturalist. 



The reproduction of many of the photographs which 

 are liberally scattered through the work leaves much to 

 be desired, and the figures of the head-shields of the 

 ring-snake or grass-snake and the smooth snake, as well 

 as of the scales round the eye in the adder, are very in- 

 accurate. True, the work is only intended for the non- 

 scientific, who may perhaps not feel inclined to be too 

 exacting on these points, if we bear in mind how few 

 have the necessary training of the eye, in matters 

 reptilian, to detect inaccuracies which would hardly be 

 tolerated if they applied to birds or insects. 



The book is made up to a great extent of letters from 

 correspondents and of newspaper cuttings referring to 

 distribution, size and habits, the adder's "swallowing of 

 the young for protection " being, of course, the heading 

 of an important chapter. All this is very useful and 

 interesting information, and is well commented upon by 

 the author. 



It is not without surprise that we notice an attempt 

 to restore the " small red viper," Coluber chcrsea of 

 Linnwus, to the rank of a distinct species, under the 

 new name of Vipe>-a rubra, which is regarded by the 

 author as "quite as distinct from the ordinary adder as 

 a swallow is from a martin." On the other hand, 

 Sowerby's Coluber duufrisiensis, which still appears in the 

 synonymy of the smooth snake {Corone/la cius/riaca), is 

 a distinct species, which inhabits North America and was 

 erroneously ascribed to Scotland. In describing the 

 common grass-snake it should have been stated that the 

 yellow or orange collar is sometimes absent in adult 

 specimens. It is held by most observers who have kept 

 this snake that its food consists of nothing higher in the 

 vertebrate scale than batrachians ; but Dr. Leighton 

 informs us that one of its most favourite meals consists 

 of mice, and that it also feeds on water-voles and birds. 

 The only instance known to the writer of this notice of 

 a grass-snake containing a mouse is that of a sciagraph 

 exhibited before a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London a few years ago ; but an inquiry elicited the 

 fact that the mouse had been forcibly introduced. It is 

 desirable that Dr. Leighton should adduce some more 

 precise data in support of his statement. 



In spite of the defects to which we have drawn atten- 

 tion, this little book will be of use and interest to field- 

 naturalists, and will no doubt result in greater attention 

 being bestowed on a somewhat neglected section of 

 vertebrates. G. A. B. 



T/ic Feeding of Aiiiiiials. By W. H. Jordan. Pp. 



.xvii -t- 450. (New York : The Macmillan Company ; 



London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1901). Price 



■)S. net. 

 The author takes a wide range. Beginning with a 

 popular account of the chemical constituents of plants 

 and animals, the processes of digestion and nutrition, and 

 the functions of food in the body, he then proceeds to a 

 description of cattle foods, and to the actual results 



NO. 1669, VOL. 64] 



obtained by the use of food as ascertained by scientific 

 investigations and farm practice. The book is written in 

 a somewhat diffuse and popular style, and the different 

 parts are of unequal merit, but it is of undoubted value. 

 The author is not pledged to any special theories, but 

 readily accepts every well-proved fact. He is well 

 acquainted with the most recent German and American 

 investigations, and has brought together a large number 

 of very important new results, for which teachers will 

 heartily thank him. Had the author written with greater 

 accuracy for science students, instead of writing for the 

 half-educated general reader, he would probably have 

 produced a better book on the feeding of animals than 

 has hitherto appeared in the English language. 



The book is thoroughly American, and the author 

 illustrates every part of the subject as far as possible by 

 the investigations and practice of his own country. He 

 is naturally bound by American conventions, and to one 

 of these we must strongly demur. The whole of the nitro- 

 genous substances present in any vegetable food are 

 collectively spoken of as " protein," although, in fact, a 

 large part of them may be amides, and in some cases 

 nitrates. This is distinctly worse than the German plan 

 of calling the whole group " Rohprotein," as in this case 

 some qualification is expressed. The American nomen- 

 clature results in a confusion of language which must be 

 abhorent to every physiological chemist. Thus our 

 author says (p. 179) : "A much larger part of the protein 

 of roots consists of amides than is the case with the 

 grains, the protein of the latter being correspondingly 

 richer in albuminoids." It is surely far better to give 

 the collective nitrogenous matters the general title of 

 " nitrogenous substance " instead of applying to them the 

 name of a particular body, which in some cases forms 

 only a small part of the group. The error is all the more 

 important as the amount of true proteids present in a 

 food has generally a great influence upon its nutritive 

 value. 



The chapter by Mr. W. P. Wheeler on the feeding of 

 poultry is of considerable importance, as he brings before 

 us the results of many recent American investigations. 



R. W. 



First Stage Building Construction. By Brysson 

 Cunningham, B.E., .Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. Pp. viii -f 240. 

 (London : W. B. Clive.) Price 2^-. 

 This small volume on elementary building constritction 

 forms one of the " organised science series." It is in- 

 tended for students preparing for the examinations in 

 elementary building construction under the Board of 

 Education. There are already several books published 

 which cover the same course, but none, we believe, which 

 profess to do so at the modest price of 2s., as does the 

 volume before us. Mr. Cunningham's book does not call 

 for much comment. The information given is of the 

 kind required, and is well and tersely put in a practical 

 way, but the diagrams, which are so important in a book 

 of this kind, are in many cases very carelessly drawn, 

 and do no credit to the book. If these are improved in 

 a future edition, it will render the book more valuable. 



Theorie Nouvelle de la Dispersion. Par M. G. 



Quesneville. Pp. 72. (Paris : A. Hermann, 1901.) 

 We opened this book in the hope of finding an intelli- 

 gent criticism of modern theories of dispersion and an 

 attempt to substitute something better ; but the author 

 appears to be very imperfectly acquainted with them ; 

 for instance, there is no reference to Sellmeier, or to 

 Lord Kelvin's Baltimore lectures. His criticisms are 

 mainly directed to the writings of Cauchy. The " new 

 theory " does not appear to include any new suggestion 

 as to physical mechanism, or anything to repay the 

 labour of wading through si.xty pages of algebraic 

 developments. J- U- E- 



