May 



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79 



would, if collected, form in itself a goodly library. C tie 

 or these most valuable reports forms the subject of the 

 present notice, closely printed, teeming with information, 

 and illustrated by a multitude of excellent woodcuts. The 

 amount of sound biological teaching is very great, and 

 put forward in a manner that renders it intelligible alike 

 to the "scientist'' and to those for whose benefit it is 

 more particularly intended. The author notices all the 

 insects (mostly in great detail) feeding on particular trees, 

 such as oak, elm, hickory, willow, pine, &c. , exc , without 

 special reference, in the first instance, to the particular 

 species of these trees. This is a good plan, for it is only 

 occasionally that certain insects are attached particularly 

 to certain species in a genus of trees : these are specially 

 indicated under the larger headings. We have often 

 found ourselves in a dilemma in attempting a notice of 

 these American reports, and this condition is strikingly 

 in force with regard to this one in particular. Almost 

 without exception, they are sound and lasting additions 

 to the scientific literature of entomology; this one is 

 especially so. But then there is the economic side of the 

 question to be considered, and that is the most difficult. 

 Naturally every insect that is attached to a particular 

 species of plant, by feeding upon it, may in a cerlain 

 sense be said to be ''injurious" to that plant. Thus, in 

 this present Report, under " Willow " we find evfn the 

 " Camberwell Beauty " [Vanessa antiopa) included in the 

 list of enemies ; but we are quite sure that no one (not 

 even the author) seriously imagines that it (with myriads 

 of other species mentioned) is an " injurious insect" from 

 an economic point of view. Certain insects feed on cer- 

 tain plants, and will eat no other ; if the plant is e>.ter- 

 minated, the insect disappears, and lo keep up the balance 

 of nature, it is quite possible that if the insect were exter- 

 minated in the first instance, some more destructh e enemy 

 (or disease) might eventually attack the plant. But the 

 greater part of the enemies to trees commit their ravages 

 by attacking the wood or bark, and here especially we 

 think economic entomologists keep too much in the back- 

 ground the fact that many insects (and many of those 

 here under consideration) act mainly the role of scavengers. 

 Undoubtedly a leaf-feeder often attacks the most healthy 

 trees, and as a rule it only becomes really injurious 

 when present in extraordinary numbers ; but with regard 

 to what may be termed lignivorous insects, we strongly 

 incline to refuse to see in the insect itself (in the 

 majority of instances) the initial cause of the unhealthy 

 condition ; on the contrary we regard it as only 

 stepping in to hapten decay commenced by causes quite 

 unconnected with its presence. Cur author, apparently 

 unconsciously, virtually acknowledges this in his sug- 

 gestions of remedies with regard to a beetle infesting 

 the spruce (p. 277), and also elsewhere, by recommend- 

 ing, above all, preventive measures, these consisting in 

 destroying all dead and dying trees, in which the insects 

 especially abound. An unhealthy condition of the tree 

 is the most favourable for the development of the beetle ; 

 but we are not of tho-e who suppose a prescience in 

 the latter which induces it to attack healthy trees for the 

 benefit of prospectively remote generations of its descen- 

 dants. 



We wish Dr. Packard had not gone out of his way 

 to coin worse than useless "English" names, many of 

 which must prove more difficult to the class for whose 

 benefit they are intended thin are the scientific ones. 

 With this exception, we thank him heartily for having 

 produced a most valuable report. R. McLACHLAN 



The Law of Kosmic Order: An Investigation of the 

 Physical Aspect of Time. By Robt. Brown, jun. 

 (London : Longmans, Green, and CoA 



A SHORT while ago we gave an account of the origin of 

 the zodiacal signs so far as recent Assyrian researches 

 enable us to determine it. Mr. Robert Brown has now 



publUhed a little book on almo;t the same subject, the 

 object of which is to trace the mythological concep ions 

 to which the names given to the signs by the Accadians 

 were due. He comes to the conclusion that the year was 

 regarded by them as an extended nycthemercn. half the 

 signs being diurnal or relating to the deities of day, and 

 the other half being nocturnal, concerned with myths of 

 the night. Early man thus recognised that there was 

 cne and the same law of " Kosmic Order'' pervading all 

 conceptions of time. In the course of his investigation 

 Mr. Brown draws upon Egyptian and Iranian sources, 

 but his chief materials are necessarily derived from the 

 monuments of ancient Babylonia. Unfortunately the 

 progressive nature of Assyrian study often renders what 

 was written on the subject a few years ago more or less 

 obsolete, and hence it happens that some of the state- 

 ments on which he relies have been corrected or modified 

 by subsequent re-carch. Thus the name of the second 

 zodiacal sign, as has already been mentioned in Nature, 

 meant " the directing Bull " in Accadian rather than "the 

 propitious Bull," as Mr. Brown gives it. It is true that 

 the word had both signitic.itior.s, but the significant n of 

 " propitious " was a later and derivative one. The name 

 of the eeventh sign again was "illustrious mound," not 

 " illustrious altar," and seems to have referred to the story 

 of the Tower of Babel, whose building was placed at the 

 autumnal equinox, while the builder himself was called 

 " the king of the illustrious mound." Such corrections, 

 however, seldom, if ever, touch Mr. Brown's arguments 

 or diminish the value of his interesting book. We can 

 thoroughly recommend it to those who care to study a 

 curious chapter in primitive astronomy. 



Uganda and the Egyptian Sudan. Bv the Rev. C. T. 

 'Wilson, M.A., F.R.G.S., and R. W. Felkin, F.R.G.S. 

 Two vols. (London : Sampson Low and Co., 1882.) 

 This double narrative is one of great interest. Mr. Wil- 

 son was one of the Church Missionary Sociel)'s mis- 

 sionaries sent out to King Mtesa on account of the 

 favourable report of Mr. Stanley with regard to the 

 eagerness of the Uganda potentate for instruction. 

 Uganda, our readers will remember, is a district on the 

 north and north-west of Victoria Nyanza, visited long ago 

 by Speke, when Mtesa was quite a youth. Mr. Wilson's 

 stay extended over two years, 1877-79. During that time, 

 he had excellent opportunities ol becoming acquainted 

 with Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza and the districts 

 on its south shores. He reached his destination by tra- 

 velling west and rorth irom Zanzibar, and was favourably 

 received by Mtesa. He had much intercourse with that 

 monarch, and gives a very rational estimate of his 

 character, not by any means so enthusiastic as that of Mr. 

 Stanley. Mr. Wilson's notes of his journey contain many 

 additions to our knowledge of the region he traversed. 

 The most important part of his narrative is that which 

 relates to the country and people of Uganda. His 

 chapters on Life in Uganda, on Uganda and the 

 Waganda, and on the government and language of 

 the Waganda, are full of fresh and interesting informa- 

 tion, and will be valued both by ethnologists and geolo- 

 gists. Mr. Wilson is a favourable type of the missionary, 

 thoroughly practical, a good observer, and a hard woiker. 

 He collected many specimens of plants, a list of which is 

 given in the appendix, with vocabularies, and meteorolo- 

 gical and hypsometrical observations. Mr. Felkin reached 

 Uganda by proceeding from Suakin to Berber on the 

 Nile, and up that river to Uganda — the fir ; t time that the 

 Victoria Nyanza had been reached by that route. Both 

 he and Mr. Wilson returned to Suakin by making a 

 circuit round by the sources of the Bahr-el-Arab, and 

 across by Obeid to the Nile. They accompanied the 

 ambassadors sent by Mtesa to this country. Mr. Felkin's 

 notes on the hydrography and natural history, as well as 

 on the social and political condition of the country 



