OcTOBER 30, 1902] 
NATURE 
653 
one before us, the series ought to command a large sale 
among both sportsmen and naturalists. Indeed, the 
mere fact that all the volumes are to be issued under the 
editorial supervision of Mr. Whitney, the well-known 
editor of Oxting, ought of itself to be a sufficient 
guarantee that they will be all such works should be. 
The greater part of the volume under consideration is by 
the first of the two authors whose names appear on the 
title-page, Mr. Van Dyke merely contributing a small 
section—considerably less than 100 pages—on the game- 
birds of the Pacific coast. 
Throughout the work, the authors appear to have hit 
the happy mean between a strictly scientific treatise and 
a purely sporting manual, each species being carefully 
described in accurate and, at the same time, popular 
language, while the rest of the space devoted to each is 
a pleasantly blended mixture of sport and natural his- 
tory, enlivened by a number of racy anecdotes. Mr. 
Sandys evidently loves his subject, and, being himself an 
enthusiastic sportsman with a strong bias towards 
natural history and a delightful style of writing, it is little 
wonder that he has succeeded in producing a most 
interesting book. The volume commences with the 
“bob-white,” the so-called American quail, and embraces 
all the species and varieties which can be classed as 
game-birds up to, and inclusive of, such a magnificent 
bird as the wild turkey, which the author calls the king 
of wild birds. The scientific nomenclature is thoroughly 
up-to-date—perhaps, indeed, almost too much so, as Mr. 
Sandys follows those authorities who consider it neces- 
sary to separate the American woodcock generically 
from its European relative. A notable instance of the 
extreme degree of refinement to which modern American 
zoology is carried occurs in the case of the plumed 
partridge, which is stated to differ from the typical 
Oreortyx pictus chiefly by its predilection for a mountain 
habitat. 
As an example of Mr. Sandys’s powers of accurate 
observation and induction, we may refer to his account, 
p- 223, of the resemblance of the ptarmigan in winter 
dress to its surroundings. After mentioning that every 
projection above clean snow is apt to cast a more or less 
decided shadow and thus cause a darker spot, he ob- 
serves that the black tail of the crouching ptarmigan so 
closely imitates this effect that the intelligent observer 
cannot fail to detect Nature’s purpose in the one peculiar 
mark. In such a brief notice as our space allows, we 
cannot quote further, and can only say that the authors | 
and the artists have combined to produce a most attrac- 
tive and interesting little volume. 
Wild Fruits of the Country Side. Figured and described 
by F. Edward Hulme, F.L.S., F.S.A. Pp. viii + 259; 
with thirty-six coloured plates by the author. (London : 
Hutchinson and Co., 1902.) Price 12s. 6d. net. 
THIS work forms one of the “ Woburn Series of 
Natural History,” published under the auspices of the 
Duke of Bedford, and intended, as His Grace's preface 
shows, to supply to those who, from various circumstances, 
cannot devote themselves to the scientific study of 
natural history, some knowledge of the processes and 
products of Nature in a form at once easily assimilated 
and scientifically accurate. 
The author himself amplifies this statement of his 
editor, and declares ‘“‘Our purpose to bea very simple 
one, to deal with the principal typical forms that one may 
reasonably expect to meet with during a country sojourn, 
and to deal with them in the simplest way—caring but 
little to send our readers to the dictionary in a wild 
quest for six-syllabled words of weird appearance, but 
caring much if the result of the perusal of our pages be 
to so far interest them as to send them to seek for them- 
selves in the great Book of Nature.” 
The class of people for whom this book is intended is 
NO. 1722, VOL. 66] 
further defined as including those who need to be told 
that “a privet berry and an acorn are distinguishable one 
from the other, that a beech nut and a blackberry are 
not so identical in form and colour but that practice 
and observation will enable us to tell which is which.” 
A much less pretentious book would surely have 
answered the purpose as well as this handsome volume. 
The nature of the text may be inferred from what has 
been said—it contains much pleasant gossip, but little 
information, and no pains have been taken to correlate or 
classify what there is. 
The illustrations are pretty and well executed, but 
scrappy and wanting in detail ; for instance, a fragment 
of the common yew and a similar morsel of the dogwood 
(Cornus) are placed together on the same plate without 
any particular reason and with no details. We can 
only suppose this has been done for the benefit 
of those who cannot distinguish a beech nut from 
a blackberry. The table of contents of the three 
chapters into which the book is divided is very full, but 
very unsystematic. The index is copious, but displays 
the same absence of method ; for instance, the first entry 
runs thus, “Abnormal Chestnut Cluster, 128,” but there 
is no corresponding reference under Chestnut or under 
Cluster, both more important words for the user of the 
index than that chosen to direct his research. In fine, we 
can but regret the expenditure of so much time, labour 
and money which might with so much greater profit have 
been bestowed on a work of a different character. 
A word of praise is due to the printer and publisher, 
for paper, typography and illustrations (so far as they go) 
are all good. 
Einfiihrung in die Theorie der Doppelbrechung. By 
Heinrich Greinacher. Pp. 64; numerous figures. 
(Leipzig: Von Veit and Co., 1902.) Price M. 1.20. 
THIS is a simple account of some of the leading 
phenomena of double refraction considered by the help of 
geometric methods. These are of the simplest type, no 
attempt being made to give rigorous proo!s where any 
difficulty would be encountered. The booklet can, 
therefore, only be recommended to those who are unable 
to grasp the theory as usually given, but desire some 
explanation of the phenomena which they have met with 
experimentally. They are presumably acquainted with 
such phenomena, as no diagrams of the effects described 
are provided ; these might be added with great advantage. 
The description is lucid, but meagre. If the attack were 
concentrated on the ellipsoid of elasticity and the wave 
surface instead of spread out over four surfaces, greater 
success would be achieved. ASWe Ps 
Physical Geography. By Margery A. Reid, B.Sc. With 
maps and illustrations by Bertha Reid. Pp. iv + 148. 
(London: Allman and Son, Ltd.) Price 2s. 6d. 
THOUGH this little book contains so few pages, it is 
divided into twenty-four chapters, in each of which new 
subjects are introduced. The reader is thus hurried from 
one subject to another without explanation enough to 
make the work intelligible. Rivers and glaciers are de- 
scribed in a little more than two pages. Rain receives 
scarcely any attention and the rain-gauge is not described 
at all When the author seriously attempts an explana- 
tion she is successful, but the limited space has prevented 
her from doing justice to herself or her subject. Es- 
pecially in the descriptions of experiments is the guidance 
insufficient. For instance, we read on p. 35, “ Submerge 
a shoot of watercress in water. Bubbles of gas collect 
on it; if some of these be tested as they ascend through 
the water, they are found to be oxygen.” How to catch 
one of these bubbles and test it under water would 
puzzle older students than those for whom the book is 
mtended. 
