THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1897. 
OUT-DOOR STUDIES OF NATURE. 
The Round of the Year, a Series of Short Nature Studies. 
By Prof. L. €. Miall, F.R.S. Pp. 295. (London: 
Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) 
Life in Ponds and Streams. By W. Furneaux, F.R.G.S. 
Pp. vi + 406. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 
1896.) 
OTH these volumes, while aiming at scientific 
accuracy, are intended for the general reader ; 
and, on this account, they have a considerable value. 
Prof. Miall’s “ Round the Year” is quite an unique book, 
The study of a lofty model is sure to inspire us, intel- 
lectually or morally ; and a close study of Gilbert White 
is manifest in most of his extremely interesting pages, 
They constitute a group of sketches growing out of the 
events of the year 1895; a year, in some respects, of 
unusual interest to the naturalist. 
It is somewhat rare in these days to find a book, 
written almost entirely on biological subjects, so happily 
free from the laboratory, and its technicalities and 
methods. We see Prof. Miall as an observer, and by 
the very manner of his observations showing the 
_ amateur and the young mind interested in nature how 
to observe. This is aided rather than hindered by the 
_ very wide and even desultory character of the subjects 
which in this volume claim his attention. In the very 
first pages he introduces his reader to a fascinating account 
of some Simulium larve, found in “a clear and rapid 
stream which flows down from the moors of the Wharfe.” 
This affords precisely the description of facts and 
circumstances likely to arrest and fix the attention of 
the hesitating as to whether or not he will make nature 
the subject of his special study. 
These and the following few pages on insects and plants 
in midwinter are precisely what we need at this time. 
The amateur is diverted from the study of nature by the 
enormous mass of “facts” accumulated in the laboratory, 
having no doubt inestimable value, but compiled by men 
who, to those outside the specialist circle, appear little 
concerned with nature in the sense in which it was so 
beautiful to, and made so interesting by Gilbert White. 
The danger is lest we should, in modern days, cause the 
majority to conclude that the world must be divided 
into scientific and non-scientific ; which in effect means 
into specialists and general readers. The intermediate 
order of mind, deeply observant of, and interested in, 
nature, is rarely considered. But it is to this class of 
mind that Prof. Miall appeals ; and he does it with all 
the accuracy of a sound man of science, and all the 
simplicity of a natural lover of the objects he con- 
templates. 
Some of the notes, such as “‘ Snow-flakes,” presenting 
as they do the latest results, will perhaps not be readily 
assimilated by the reader for whom these notes are 
really written ; but ever and again we come upon the 
keen clear observations of a man as independent of text- 
books as he is of tutors: an observer whose observa- 
tions will lead others to do likewise. His notes on 
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‘f Phi and Theta”?! are especially of this order, and while 
they incorporate the latest scientific investigation easily 
lead the non-scientific observer to see what possibilities 
of pleasant observation lie around him. 
A very interesting paper is that on “Animals with 
and without Combs.” “The Oil-Beetle (Meloe)” is 
another cluster of notes which we heartily commend to 
the general reader. But there is something quite fresh 
in “The Corn-rigs of Beamsley Fell,” and in this we 
see the author’s knowledge and love of Yorkshire. 
Some very interesting matter not commonly thrown 
together is given on “‘ The Cuckoo,” in which the problem 
of the cuckoo’s action in regard to her egg is very cleverly 
presented. 
The “ Botany of a Railway Station” is well worthy of 
the ordinary reader’s study ; and the notes on “ Hay-time” 
and on “ Moorland Plants” will quicken the interest of 
many in what is still known as “natural history.” 
The note on the “ Reversed Spiral” is of great value ; 
quite by incident, it will show the general reader how 
some of the most remarkable adaptations—*con- 
trivances”—in nature are in reality not such. “The 
reversed spiral (with all its wonderful perfections of 
‘adaptation ’) is not a contrivance at all ; it is a mechan- 
ical necessity when a band whose ends are not free to 
revolve is thrown into coils.” 
“The Structure of a Feather” and “The Fall of the 
Leaf” are not new, but clear and so presented that the 
readers for whom the book is written, and to whom it 
will be fresh, will find in it an uncommon interest. In 
short, this book worthily represents its author. A student 
of the deeper things of nature, he has pleasure, manifest 
in every page, in presenting to others the results ot 
general observation, which may awake in them the 
keenest delight. 
Mr. Furneaux’s book on “ Life in Ponds and Streams” 
is remarkably well presented to the reader. The pub- 
lishers’ work has been admirably done; and to those 
who have read “ The Out-door World,” there will be little 
doubt that in this book we have a thoroughly practical 
treatise. In fact this isnot a book to “read” ; it isa book 
to be taken as a guide to the practical study of the ponds 
and streams. 
It was ponds and streams that led to the whole 
science of microscopic research ; and whilst this book 
deals with the larger inhabitants of the pool and the 
brook, it is of exactly the order that is needed to awake 
an interest in living things far beyond the limits it has 
wisely set itself. The “introduction” is a useful epitome 
of the animal kingdom so far as it will be needed by the 
collector ; and the practical hints and instructions on 
collecting are such as could only have been given by an 
experienced leader ; and we may say that the careful 
reader of the chapters on “Collecting in Ponds and 
Streams” and “Collecting Minute Forms of Life,” will 
not suffer much from embarking on his task with supreme 
trust in his guide. We think that the instructions given 
to the possessor of a moderately good modern micro- 
scope—and the English market is now crowded with the 
very best models at the very lowest price—as to how to 
make a “sfot-dens” are, however, quite superfluous, for the 
simplest substage condenser ought to be supplied with 
1 A dog and cat. 
N 
