220 



NATURE 



[Jan. 6. 1887 



denuded Carboniferous beds. Elsewhere, as on the west 

 side of England, there was no break of this kind, but sedi- 

 mentation went on continuously, or with but very slight 

 interruption, from Carboniferous into Permian times, and 

 there is what practically amounts to a passage from 

 Carboniferous into Permian rocks. 



There is one very healthy sentence in the chapter on 

 " The Dyas." " There is no proof that the red rocks" (of 

 the English Permians) " are as a whole older than the 

 limestones, and the notion of their being so is a mere 

 assumption founded on their lithological similarity to the 

 German Rothliegende." If the author had said "fancied 

 similarity," it would have been still more to the point ; 

 but it will be most useful to have clearly stated that this 

 correlation, so dear to the pigeon-hole systematists, has 

 nothing to rest upon. 



Before concluding, we would call attention to three 

 omissions which it seems desirable to notice. In the 

 account of the Lower Oolites of the Yorkshire coast there 

 is no mention of the marine band discovered by the Geo- 

 logical Survey and named the Ella Beck Bed {Memoirs 

 of the Geological Survey, e.xplanation of Quarter Sheet 

 95, N.W., p. 33). This is a very small matter ; but we 

 think it is very much to be regretted that no word has 

 been said, in the account of the Cretaceous rocks, of the 

 southern type of that formation, the Hippurite Limestone, 

 and that in the description of the Tertiary rocks the 

 Nummulitic formation is also passed by in silence. 

 The book is primarily a book on British geology, but in 

 cases, like that of the Triassic rocks, where the British 

 representatives are abnormal or exceptional, the author 

 has not hesitated to take his readers to foreign localities 

 where the normal type is found. Now surely the rocks 

 of the Anglo-Parisian Cretaceous basin are decidedly 

 exceptional in their character, and were formed to a large 

 extent under very special conditions ; and the best way 

 to enforce this truth on the reader is to introduce him to 

 the beds of the same age deposited elsewhere in a less 

 special manner. The large range too of the Hippurite 

 Limestone gives it precedence over the deposits laid 

 down in what was after all only a biggish and some- 

 what land-locked inlet of a v/estern ocean. And the 

 same thing may be said, even with more emphasis, of 

 the Eocene beds. What an imperfect idea any one would 

 have of the physical geography and events of that period 

 who knew only the littoral and estuarine representatives 

 found in the London and Paris basins. If space were an 

 object, it would have been better to have omitted many 

 things which now find a place in the book than to have 

 passed over two such formations as the Hippurite and 

 Nummulitic Limestones. For instance, it seems to be a 

 fixed article of faith that every geological text-book must 

 contain an account of the Permians of the Thiiringerwald, 

 a little isolated group with a very special character of their 

 own, and with little or no bearing on British geology, 

 but, as has been said, dear to the pigeon-holers. The 

 omission of the account of this group, and of one or two 

 similar sections of the book besides, would have left ample 

 room for all that need have been said about the two great 

 formations mentioned above. 



Such little flaws as have been noted seem to be present 

 in the structure of what, on the whole, will prove a most 

 useful book. If any of the suggestions we have made 



commend themselves to the author's 'judgment, we trust 

 he will soon have an opportunity of acting upon them in 

 a second edition. A. H. Green 



PHOTOGRAPHS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF 

 WILD ANIMALS 

 Wild Animals, Photographed and Described. Illustrated 

 by Phototype Reproductions of Photographic Negatives 

 taken from Life. By J. Fortune Nott, Major, Canadian 

 Active Militia. (London : Sampson Low and Co., 

 18S6.) 



THE author of this splendidly printed volume, while 

 disclaiming the idea that it is an erudite or scien- 

 tific work on natural history, assures us that his object in 

 writing and compiling it was to furnish some trustworthy 

 information about some few of the most important varie- 

 ties of existing wild animals, and to do this in an enter- 

 taining and readable manner. The works at present in 

 existence on such a subject may be classified, the author 

 thinks, into the " scientific " and the "educational": the 

 former are, in great measure, incomprehensible to the 

 general reader ; the latter have their value to the same 

 class of reader greatly spoiled by the taint of levity that 

 characterises the style in which they are written. When 

 a bear is talked of as " Master Bruin," and a lion as 

 " His Majesty," the dignity of the subject is compromised- 



This being so, Mr. Nott thought there was room for a 

 book which "would accurately describe the salient features, 

 distinguishing peculiarities, and specific habits" of wild 

 animals, and that by dropping, as far as possible, all 

 scientific descriptions and the general use of scientific 

 nomenclature, and adding certain historical facts or in- 

 teresting anecdotes in which they prominently figured, he 

 could make such a volume readable and entertaining. 



It is, however, obviously impossible that any one 

 man could personally be familiar with the habits of all of 

 our larger animals, and the author has borrowed a good 

 deal from the works of travellers that "have appeared 

 within the last few years, rather than from similar works of 

 previous dates, wherein fable and truth are so blended 

 that they were practically useless " for his purpose. 



Respecting the illustrations of this volume, the author 

 has attempted a new departure. Instead of illustrating 

 his book with portraits of animals taken by artists, which 

 often represent rather the artists' ideas of what an 

 animal ought to be than what the animal really is, he 

 has had photographs of these wild beasts made, and illus- 

 trates the volume with phototype reproductions of these. 

 He apologises for the photographs, owing to the difficulties 

 encountered. It is difficult to get human beings to sit 

 properly for their portraits, but wild animals must be 

 taken often in darkish dens, and are not amenable to 

 orders to keep quiet and look their best. 



To our mind, these photographic illustrations are the 

 more important portion of this volume, which, from its fine 

 type and paper, and wealth of illustration, is likely to 

 become popular. The photograph of the lion is excellent. 

 This beast, as our author would call him, has behaved 

 extremely well under the trying ordeal, and has "come 

 out " first-rate. The group of zebras form a pretty picture. 

 The photographs of the giraffe, hippopotamus, and red 

 kangaroos are characteristic. The text calls for little 



