May 12, 1904] 



NA TURE 



29 



definition making, and so on, are also, he maintains, 

 of great value. The book has been read critically by 

 numerous teachers — some of whom are well known 

 experts — so that it ought to be well-nigh faultless 

 within its limits. The descriptive part begins with 

 insects, leaving difficult groups like Protozoa and 

 Coelentera to near the end; it is elementary in its 

 mode of treatment, with refreshing breaths of the open 

 air, admirably free from technicalities, and always 

 clear. But the author has tried far too much, and 

 his terseness is repeatedly gained at the expense of 

 accuracy. We do not see the object of attempting a 

 complete survey in a book like this, of dragging in 

 sirenians and brachiopods — the whole show, in short — 

 when the exigencies of space appear to have made it 

 impossible to say about many classes anything worth 

 reading. If the author had been less ambitious of 

 completeness, his book would have been more useful. 

 The practical part of the book, which includes a large 

 varietv of material, and mostly consists of simple direc- 

 tions and suggestive questions, is in our opinion a 

 much stronger piece of work. The studies on insects, 

 the crayfish, the earthworm, the turtle, the snake, the 

 rabbit, and many more, considered both as intact living 

 creatures and as objects for anatomical analysis, are 

 admirably conceived and well worked out. The 

 Socratic method is adhered to throughout, and the 

 practical volume will be found very valuable both by 

 teachers and students. It presupposes for the natural 

 history lessons more time and more freedom than is 

 usually allowed in Britain. It should also be noted 

 that there are terse directions on several topics which 

 are rarely alluded to in books on practical zoology, such 

 as skinning birds and mounting insects. Our general 

 impression is that Prof. Colton, who is evidently a 

 skilful teacher, should have expanded and illustrated 

 the practical part of his book, incorporating in it all 

 that is personal and distinctive in the descriptive part. 



J. A. T. 



Ainoiii; the Garden People. By Clara D. Pierson. 



Pp. viii + 236; illustrated. (London: John Murray, 



1904.) Price 5s. 

 Our American friends, if not actually ahead, are well 

 up to our level in the matter of encouraging and pro- 

 tecting the native birds of gardens and plantations, 

 and the author has therefore been well advised in 

 arranging for an English edition of the work before 

 us. She has been equally well advised in changing 

 the original title of " Dooryard .Stories " for the one 

 this daintv little volume now bears, for few amongst 

 us, we think, are aware that " dooryard " is American 

 for ''garden." The American title is, however, still 

 retained in the page-headings. 



The book is essentially one for juvenile readers, 

 being written in the form of simply worded stories, in 

 which the birds are made, so far as possible, to tell 

 their own tale according to what may be supposed to 

 be their own ideas. Despite a certain amount of con- 

 fusion which is almost sure to arise from the mis- 

 appropriation of the names of familiar English birds 

 for totally different .American species, it is certainly 

 an important element in the natural history education 

 of young people that they should be made to under- 

 stand that the birds of distant lands differ markedly 

 from those of their own, and, as the author observes, 

 it may be a decided advantage to those who visit in 

 mature years the New World to have already made 

 some amount of acquaintance with its feathered 

 denizens. 



Not that this volume is by any means absolutely 

 restricted to the birds of American gardens, for it tells 

 us a good deal about some of their four-legged enemies, 

 such as red squirrels and chipmunks. Some of the 



NO. 1802, VOL. 70] 



-American names, such as the latter, are explained in 

 a short glossary, in which we are somewhat amused 

 to find the raccoon described as " an American animal, 

 allied to the bear family, but much smaller, and much 

 hunted both for its flesh and its fur." Surely some- 

 thing a little more exact and more to the point could 

 have been supplied by the author's naturalist friends. 



The numerous " three-colour " plates are for the 

 most part good and artistic representations of the 

 species they portray, and the volume may be recom- 

 mended as an attractive gift-book for young people. 



R. L. 



New Physical Geography. By Ralph S. Tarr, B.S.,. 

 Professor of Dynamic Geology and Physical Geo- 

 graphy at Cornell L'niversity. Pp. xvi-l-457. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Company, 1904.) Price 

 I dollar. 



.As Prof. Tarr says in his preface, the teaching of 

 physical geography is still in its experimental stage. 

 The publication of this volume, which is the third on 

 the same subject by the same author, who now " does 

 not flatter himself that he has produced the ideal," 

 shows there is work yet to be done by teachers of geo- 

 graphy. But whether this volume is ideal or not, it is 

 certainly an excellent text-book of the subject. Prof. 

 Tarr begins with a short and not altogether satisfac- 

 tory chapter on the earth as a planet, and proceeds to 

 a treatment of the lands of the globe. These chapters 

 are followed by descriptions of atmospheric and 

 oceanic phenomena, which are less extended than in 

 the author's previous books, and by an account of the 

 phvsiography of the United States. The volume con- 

 cludes with chapters treating of life in its relation to- 

 the land, air, and ocean — the last one being called 

 "Man and Nature." Several subjects usually in- 

 cluded in books on physical geography are relegated 

 to appendices, and among these may be mentioned : 

 revolution of the earth, latitude and longitude, tides, 

 magnetism, and meteorological instruments. There 

 are 56S illustrations, most of which are of a striking 

 and instructive character. 



Quiet Hours ivitl'. Nature. By Mrs. Brightwen. 



Illustrated by Theo. Carreras. Pp. .\vi + 27i. 



(London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1904.) Price 5s. 

 Mrs. Brightwen writes in a way that is sure to gain 

 the attention of young people. Her sketches are in 

 no sense formal scientific descriptions of the familiar 

 animal and plant life of this country, but they are 

 likely to arouse an interest in natural history and to 

 lead readers to observe for themselves. The book 

 shows clearly how much worth close inspection and 

 study an English garden contains, and rightly indi- 

 cates there are common phenomena which still 

 remain unexplained. The book is well illustrated and 

 deserves to be a favourite with boys and girls. 



Le Monde des Foiirmis. By Henri Coupin, Laur^at 



de rinstitut, &c. Pp. 160. (Paris: Delagrave.) 

 This is a small popular book relating to the habits, 

 architecture, and intelligence of ants, and largely 

 consists of extracts from the works of Huber, Forel, 

 Lubbock, Moggridge, and other well known writers, 

 chiefly French and English. The subject of the book 

 cannot fail to interest those previouslv unacquainted 

 with it, but it contains little that will not be familiar 

 to everyone who has read any recent works on ants. 

 It is very inferior to such a book as Ernest Andre's 

 " Les Fourmis," published in 1885, but we believe that 

 this has been out of print for some time. We may add 

 that M. Coupin 's book contains a few illustrations of 

 a verv inferior description. 



