January 9, 1908J 



NA TURE 



223 



SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY.' 



(i) T N works of the present na 

 *■ at his best; and his best, 



lature, Mr. Millais is 

 alike with pen and 

 with pencil, is, it is almost unnecessary to say, very 

 good indeed. Caribou-hunting was the main object 

 of his expedition, and in this work the author has given 

 U5 an account of the local race of the reindeer which 

 has never before been equalled, a feature of special 

 value being a coloured plate of the animal from a 

 sketch by himself. Some magnificent and perhaps 

 unrivalled photographs of heads of this handsome 

 animal are also reproduced. 



Mr. Millais is never content with following in the 

 beaten track; and during his expedition he succeeded 

 in making his way into previously unknown tracts 

 in the interior, where he succeeded, from a clue given 

 by Mr. F. C. Selous, in locating a large non-migratory 

 southern herd. It will probatjly come as a surprise 

 to many of his readers that a large area of the interior 

 of the country is still unknown, even to the Govern- 

 ment surveyors. Here reindeer abound, these swampy 

 tracts of the interior being, in fact, fit for nothing else 

 than reindeer. A most 

 satisfactory feature is 

 that, despite an organised 

 annual slaughter during 

 migration, the caribou 

 continue to increase in 

 the island, and, in the 

 author's opinion, are 

 likely to do so for cen- 

 turies. 



Mr. Millais estimates 

 the number of caribou in 

 the island at 200,000. The 

 rate of destruction is esti- 

 mated as follows : — " Put- 

 ting the death-rate at the 

 highest estimate of three 

 animals each to 4000 

 -.hooters, 12,000 would be 

 Icilled out of 200,000, thai 

 i^, a depreciation of 6 per 

 ei-nl. Now this is a much 

 >maller rate of killing 

 than takes place among 

 the stags of Scotland, and 

 they are undoubtedly on 

 the increase. " 



The book is, how- 

 ever, by no means restricted to Newfoundland 

 and caribou, for we have, near the middle, 

 an interesting chapter on the author's experi- 

 ences in whaling, in which the game were the blue 

 linner and the humpback. In the course of this 

 viiapter we notice (pp. 162, 178) two different dates 

 assigned to Svend Foyn's invention of the bomb-har- 

 poon, the one last mentioned being correct; and at 

 least one slip in proof-reading is observable. 



The coloured plates of scenery and animals are ex- 

 quisite, and ought by themselves to ensure a large 

 -.de for this charming volume; while the reproduc- 

 lions from photographs and pen sketches are no less 

 admirable and interesting. As an example, we re- 

 produce the illustration of a party of caribou swim- 

 ming a lake, with Mount Cormack in the distance. 



(2) In place of stirring jungle adventures and hair- 



' (i) "Newfoundland and its CTntrodden Ways." By J. G. Millai.":. 

 Pp. xvi + 34c; illustraled. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1907.) 



breadth escapes from tigers and wild boars, we have 

 in this attractive and beautifullv illustrated volume a 

 series of chapters on the insect and other invertebrate 

 (we really want a word equivalent to the Spanish 

 bccho, which will serve for all these creatures) life of 

 the plains of India, followed by others on Indian trees, 

 plants, and gardening. From preface to index the 

 work is written in a style and with a charm which 

 cannot fail to interest a large circle of readers; while 

 the numerous references to details connected with the 

 habits and environment of the various species cited 

 serve to proclaim the author (already well known to 

 the reading public by an earlier work on the same 

 lines) as an accurate and painstaking observer. So 

 graphic, indeed, are his descriptions that we can almost 

 imagine ourselves in the veranda of a bungalow on 

 a hot night at the beginning of the rains, surrounded 

 by pests of many sizes and sorts, or wandering in 

 spring through the incomparably beautiful glades of 

 the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta. 



Among the larger pests to which the author pays 

 much attention are centipedes and scorpions; and in 

 connection with the latter he relates how a yogi 



(2) '■ Plagues and Pleasure 

 Cunningham. Pp. xi-l-38s; 



of Life in BenEal." By Lieut-Colonel D. D. 

 illustrated. (London : John Murray, 1907.) 



NO. 1993. VOL. 77] 



: Cormack in the 

 Untrodden Ways, 



from Mirzapur, who had the reputation of being im- 

 mune to the scorpion's sting, submitted himself to a, 

 trial in Calcutta. To make sure that there should be 

 no " bogus " in the matter, a good supply of freshly- 

 caught scorpions of the most venomous type was pro- 

 vided. .'\fter sorrie hesitation, he allowed several 

 of the creatures to affix themselves to his fingers, 

 when he appeared tq suffer no special inconvenience 

 or pain, and thus demonstrated the truth of his asser- 

 tions. The immunity was, in Col. Cunningham's 

 opinion, probably due to frequent inoculation with 

 the venom, aided possibly by an innate tendency in 

 that direction, and the consequent development of an 

 antitoxin, the case being, in fact, analogous to that, 

 comparative immunity to mosquito-poison which re- 

 sults in most persons after lengthened preliminary 

 suffering. 



Among other trials to which the resident in India is 

 subjected, the author waxes eloquent on the difificulty 

 of preserving books from the ravages of " silver-fish " 

 and white ants; while he also refers to the voracity of 

 the huge land-snails (achatinas) introduced into Cal- 



