632 
NATURE 
[OcToBER 23, 1902 
captain of the Scoffa. Captain Robertson has been 
engaged in Arctic whaling for twenty years, and has 
made some interesting geographical surveys on the coast 
of Greenland. In 1892, he took part with the Dundee 
whaling fleet in an Antarctic voyage, and he is not likely 
to neglect any opportunity of exploration in the far south. 
While the captain is in command of the ship, the command 
of the expedition is in the hands of Mr. Bruce alone, and 
he is responsible for the plan, which he is free to vary as 
circumstances may require or suggest, and for the direction 
of all the scientific work. Mr. Bruce will be supported by 
a scientific staff of six, including Mr. R. N. Rudmose 
Brown (son of the late Mr. Robert Brown), as botanist 
and observer of plankton; Mr. R. C. Mossman, as 
meteorologist, a choice which ensures the highest 
efficiency in that department ; and Dr. J. H. H. Pirie, 
as medical officer and geologist. Dr. Pirie has studied 
oceanic deposits with Sir John Murray and has also had 
experience of field-work in geology. The zoological 
work will be shared between Mr. Bruce himself and Mr. 
Wilton, an old companion on the Jackson-Harmsworth 
expedition. Two younger men will also go as assistants. 
The plan of the expedition is stated to be as follows :— 
The Scotia is to proceed direct to the South Atlantic 
Ocean, and in the coming Antarctic summer she will go 
“as far south as is compatible with the attainment of 
the best results to science.” The Scottish station is 
marked on the map accompanying Mr. Bruce’s Belfast 
paper as in 82° S., 30° W.; but it is explicitly stated that 
the ship will, if possible, be kept clear of the ice and will 
not winter in the far south unless that course cannot be 
avoided. Hence we doubt whether a latitude within 
many degrees of that designated can be reached. The 
Antarctic winter of 1903 is to be spent in oceanographical 
work to the north of the ice-pack, an arduous programme, 
but one likely to secure very interesting results if the 
sea is not too rough for working the instruments. If 
funds permit, a second trip into high latitudes will 
be made in the following summer. We consider it is 
extremely important that this should be done. After 
providing one of the finest Polar ships afloat at great 
expense and bringing together a singularly competent 
staff of specialists, it would be most unfortunate not to 
utilise the opportunity for securing two years’ work. In 
the interests of science we would appeal to those who 
are generously bearing the cost of this expedition to do 
a little more, to free Mr. Bruce absolutely from any 
further anxiety as to expense and leave him no excuse 
for not reaping fully the harvest of scientific results which 
lies awaiting him in the field he has succeeded at last in 
entering. 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE 
THAMES VALLEY} 
1 a series of pleasantly written and beautifully illus- 
trated articles, a large proportion of which have 
previously appeared in various serials, such as the 
Spectator, Country Life, and the Badminton Magazine, 
Mr. Cornish introduces his readers to a number of in- 
teresting facts connected more or less intimately with the 
valley of the Thames and its tributaries. Indeed, if we 
may judge by a statement made in the preface, and the 
evidence afforded by the text itself, few Englishmen can 
be better acquainted, both from the natural history and 
the sporting point of view, with the basin of the Thames 
than the author. In the first chapter we are introduced 
to the Thames at Sinodun Hill, in the next the manner 
in which the great river receives its supply of water is 
discussed, while the shells, plants and insects of the 
Thames form the subject of the next three chapters. 
1 “The Naturalist on the Thames.” By C. J. Cornish. Pp. viii +- 260; 
illustrated. (London: Seeley and Co., Ltd., 1902.) Price 7s. 6d. 
NO. 1721, VOL. 66] 
‘meadows. 
Perhaps the author is a little too much dominated with 
the idea of the great antiquity of fresh water and all its 
belongings, but this is a small point ; and his notes on 
the variation of colour presented by the Thames Neritina, 
and the remarkable manner in which these empty shells 
collect in vast quantities in certain parts of the river-bed 
are of considerable interest. Indeed, it would be well 
worth while for some investigator to turn his attention to 
the manner in which these accumulations of shells are 
brought together. Several chapters are devoted to fish 
and fishing, the chub coming in for a special share of 
attention, and eel-traps being fully described. The two 
chapters on Wittenham Wood are specially interesting, 
as showing the numbers of wild mammals to be met with 
a few years ago in the Thames valley. From the former 
of these chapters we select, as a sample of. the illus- 
trations of the volume, the exquisite photograph of a pair 
of otters herewith reproduced. 
The migratory and resident birds of the district are 
treated of in a couple of chapters, in the first of which 
the author states that, as the result of several years’ 
observation, the river serves as the migration route of 
several species of birds besides swallows. ‘ Sand- 
martins,” he writes, “when beginning the migration, 
travel down the Thames in small flocks, and sleep each 
night in different osier-beds. How many stages they 
make when ‘going easy’ down the river no one knows. 
But I have seen the flocks come along just before dusk, 
straight down stream, and then dropping into an osier- 
bed.” A third chapter describes the birds to be seen on 
the reservoirs in the valley. 
The plants of the Thames valley, other than those of 
the river itself, receive attention in two chapters, the one 
treating of various poisonous kinds, while the other 
describes the flowering species to be met with in the 
Nor are economic and agricultural considera- 
tions by any means neglected. In one article, for 
instance, the author gives notes on the different breeds 
of sheep to be met with in the Thames watershed, while 
in a second he discourses on watercress and osier- 
growing. Sporting readers will find much to interest 
them in the account of netting red deer in Richmond 
Park, while the lover of picturesque scenery will be 
delighted alike by the author’s descriptions and the 
photographs by which they are illustrated. 
In discursive and chatty writings of this description 
Mr. Cornish is indeed thoroughly at home, and his book 
ought to command a large circle of readers who delight 
in our chief river and its neighbourhood. But in not a 
few of his chapters the author attempts more ambitious 
subjects, where in several places he gets sadly out of his 
depth. For instance, on the very first page we find it 
gravely stated that ‘‘ there are in Lake Tanganyika or the 
rivers of Japan exactly the same kinds of shells as in the 
Thames.” We may take it, charitably, that by the some- 
what vague term “kinds” the author means genera and 
not species. But even then the reference to the molluscan 
fauna of Tanganyika is a most astounding and unpardon- 
able error. Has the author, we may well ask, never 
heard of Mr. J. E. S. Moore’s famous expedition to that 
lake, and the shoals of papers that have been written 
with regard to its so-called “halolimnic” molluscan 
fauna? It is perfectly true, indeed, that Tanganyika, 
like other African lakes, contains several widespread 
genera, such as Planorbis and Paludina common to 
the Thames and other freshwaters of Europe and Asia, 
but in addition to these it is the home of quite a number 
of peculiar generic, if not family, types of molluscs un- 
known at the present day anywhere else in the world. 
And we are told that its shells are exactly the same as 
those of the Thames ! 
In describing the freshwater “limpet” (Azcylus 
fluviatilis), the author alludes to it as ‘shaped like a 
Phrygian cap.” On referring to the plate of ‘“‘ Thames 
ree - 
