236 
NATURE 
[Dec. 30, 1869 
than is usually supposed. They are conspicuously present 
in French class-books, but their absence is too. often as 
conspicuous in English ones. 
The author states in his preface that his chief difficulty 
has been in the selection of suitable plants to illustrate the 
natural orders, especially as types which are common in 
some parts of India, are absent in others. We think, 
however, that he has been extremely judicious in his selec- 
tion, which certainly required no little local knowledge, 
and he has very properly recorded his obligations in this 
respect to our two great authorities on Indian botany, Dr. 
Hooker and Dr. Thomson. 
If we were required to point out the especial part of 
the volume in which we think the author's tact has been 
more peculiarly developed, we would instance that in 
which he might be supposed to be least familiar. We have 
read with pleasure the observations on the cryptogamic 
orders, in admiration of the immense mass of information 
which is condensed within a short compass, and of its 
intrinsic value. We are glad to observe that some defini- 
tions are to be found in the very copious index, which did 
not come within the author's views in the text, and it 
would add greatly to their value if in a future edition little 
illustrations of such matters could be added in the margin. 
We have selected some woodcuts which are fair speci- 
mens of the 240 engravings in the book. 
M. J. BERKELEY 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Literature of Natural History.—Zericht tiber die wissen- 
schaftlichen Leistungen in der Naturgeschichte der 
niederen Thiere wahrend der Fahre 1866 und 1867. 
Von Dr. Rudolph Leuckart. (Berlin, 1869. London : 
Williams and Norgate.) 
Now that original observers in every branch of natural 
history are to be found in all civilised countries, it is only by 
means of such reports as this that the working naturalist 
can keep himself acquainted with the actual state even of 
that department of his science which he himself more 
particularly cultivates. When, as in the present case, a 
man of real eminence as a naturalist has at his command 
all the chief languages of Europe, and gives us year by 
year no mere dry list of papers but full analyses accom- 
panied by critical remarks, we feel that it is not easy to 
exaggerate the importance of his labours as affecting the 
general progress of zoology. For the sake of any worker 
who may be unacquainted with Prof. Leuckart’s reports, 
we may mention that they embrace the groups Vermes, 
Echinodermata, Coelenterata, and Protozoa, as defined by 
German writers. The Rotiferi and Bryozoa are included 
under the Vermes. 
Parsons on the Rose. 4 TJyeatise on the Propagation, 
Culture, and History of the Rose. By Samuel B. 
Parsons. Pp.215. Illustrated. (New York. London: 
Triibner and Co.) 
THE horticultural portion of this work, occupying its first 
nine chapters, is a digest of some of our best English 
authors on the subject. Chapter IX., on the Diseases 
and Insects attacking the Rose, is confessedly little more 
than a reproduction of the writings of Harris on the same 
topic, and of use o7Zy to the American cultivator. 
The historical part, contained in Chapters X. to XV., 
exhibits a remarkable collation of gleanings from 
history—ancient, medizeval, or modern—of legends, fables, 
ceremonies, &c., all having some connection (although in 
some instances rather remote) with the rose. R.C.K. 
The Romance of Natural History. By Philip Henry 
Gosse, F.R.S. 
Nisbet and Co.) 
THE popularity of these well-known volumes may be 
looked upon as a standing protest against the common 
opinion that the exact study of natural objects is inimi- 
cal to a poetic conception and romantic love of nature. 
We know of no more delightful New Year’s gift for an 
intelligent boy than Dr. Gosse’s eloquent and well-illus- 
trated work, 
Our Dumb Neighbours ; or, Conversations of a Father 
with his Children on Domestic and other Animals. 
By the Rev. T. Jackson. (London: S. W. Partridge 
and Co.) 
THIS is a first-rate picture-book of animals for children. 
The text is not up to the level of the woodcuts. 
Gedachtnisrede auf Alexander von Humboldt. Von HH. 
W. Dove. (Berlin : Harrwitz und Gossman, 1869.) 
Alexander von Humboldt. Festrede von Dr. A. Bastian. 
(Berlin ; Wiegandt and Hemfel, 1869.) 
THESE are addresses delivered, on the occasion ‘of the 
recent Humboldt Centenary, before the Prussian Academy 
of Sciences, and the joint meeting of the scientific socie- 
ties of Berlin. The memoir of Professor Dove records 
many interesting personal characteristics of the great 
German savant. 
Monthly Bulletin of the Imperial Society of Acclimatation 
Second Series, January to November 1869. 
THE Acclimatation (or, as we term it, Acclimatisation) 
Society of Paris, was founded in 1854, and appears 
to be in a most flourishing and active condition. The 
beautiful gardens of the society in the Bois de Boulogne 
are known to every visitor of Paris ; but the work done 
by the society can be best judged of by glancing at its 
“ Bulletins.” 
society consists in the distribution of animals and plants 
to its members, who may wish to experiment in endea- 
vouring to acclimatise such useful species as the society 
may obtain. Pisciculture of all kinds, marine and fresh- 
water, occupies a large share of the attention of the 
society : ostreo-culture also and the coral-fisheries—which 
the French Government has most anxiously fostered on 
the coast of Algeria—are noticed in articles giving account 
of recent progress in these departments of industry. The 
cultivation of the silkworm, however, calls forth the most 
notable exertions of the society. Large districts in the 
south of France are given up to this employment. On 
some of the limestone plateaux north of Nimes—which 
are bare for miles and present no soil—holes are excavated, 
and the necessary earth in which to place the mulberry- 
trees which are to feed the crops of silkworms reared by 
the inhabitants of this district is fetched from thirty miles’ 
distance—so valuable is the crop of silk when obtained. 
To these “ Bulletins” we shall return as they make their 
monthly appearance. At present, on glancing through 
the year’s accumulation, we find, amongst other facts of 
more than economical interest, an account of the intro- 
duction of the salmon of the Rhine into the Lake of 
Geneva. It has always been held doubtful as to whether 
salmon could thrive when access to the sea was impossible. 
The great length of the Rhone, and the overpowering force 
of its waters at the spot near Bellegarde, called /a perte 
du Rhone, renders the Lake of Geneva practically closed 
from communication with the sea for all icthyological pur- 
poses. Hence it is exceedingly interesting to find that 
success has attended the efforts of Dr. Chavannes and 
others to introduce the Rhine salmon to this area. Speci- 
mens, put in among many thousand others in 1857, have 
been recaptured, weighing over four pounds, and with roe; 
whilst others, evidently the offspring of these, have been 
also taken, Further experiments are being made on an 
actually closed lake. 
Ist and 2d series. (London: James 
An important part of the operations of the - 
Lashes ginneen t: 
_—— 
