Feb. 17, 1887] 



NA TURE 



365 



had the list of esculent fungi been confined exclusively 

 to species known to be good eating and worth the 

 trouble of collecting, excluding such minute species as 

 Agariais claviis, and Agaricus escitkii/us, and Agaricus 

 griseus, with a cap as large as one's little finger nail, 

 and a stem but little thicker than a horsehair, and 

 including Agaricus elvensis and Agaricus ha-mm-rlioid- 

 arius, with a few others, large, fleshy, and as safe and 

 delicious as the finest mushroom ever cultivated. But 

 perhaps, though known to mycologists, they were dis- 

 regarded by the writer of the " Text-boo'.<," or con- 

 temptible in his eyes beside such delicacies as Agaricus 

 sitiua/us and Laclarius piperaius. Perchance some 

 mycologist, hesitating whether to purchase or not, may 

 read this notice. Let us state for the information of such 

 a one that the hard, woody Po/yporus /oiiioitanus, which 

 grows on old trunks, and the equally well-known Polyporus 

 sguaiiiiisus, are with all seriousness and gravity introduced 

 into the " Catalogue of Esculent British Fungi ; " that 

 the excellent Agaricus sylvaticus, which we are only too 

 glad to get the chance of eating, is condemned to the 

 "Catalogue of Poisonous British Fungi," together with 

 Agaricus lacrymahundus, which is at least a considerable 

 ingredient in the modern "mushroom catsup," as sold in 

 the shops ; and, if he seeks further evidence of " vast 

 experience," he will find it in the novel information that 

 Agaricus mucidus is rare, that Cortitiarius ciiuianiomeus 

 may be used as a substitute for cinnamon, that the differ- 

 ence between Agaricus gigaiileus and Agaricus maximus 

 is only nominal, that Laclarius suhdulcis is easily con- 

 founded with Lactarius riifus, that Laclarius camphoratus 

 smells of camphor (when ?), and that Russula dccolo7-ans 

 is common under beeches and is " a good comestible." 



Finally, we must protest against the wholesale manu- 

 facture of new names, many of them barbarous enough, 

 and some of them ridiculous, under the vain supposition 

 that they will become popular names for the species of 

 edible and poisonous fungi. The old " fairy-ring cham- 

 pignon " is to be called the " oread," the common mush- 

 room is the " white pratelle." The Russula emclica is " the 

 sickener," and Russula fragilis is the " sickener's sister." 

 In one place we are told " how to prepare parasols," but 

 not whether this includes umbrellas, or whether it is 

 based on the principle that "it's never too late to mend." 

 Earnestly we hope it is, for there is vast scope for amend- 

 ment in this book, and the sooner it is commenced the 

 better. As it stands, it is difficult to determine whether 

 it should be classed with comic literature, novels, or 

 ancient history. M. C. C. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



The Structure and Life-History of the Cockroach (Pcri- 

 plaiicta oricntalis). An Introduction to the Study of 

 Insects. By L. C. Miall, Professor of Biology in the 

 Yorkshire College, Leeds, and Alfred Denny, Lecturer 

 on Biology in the Firth College, Sheffield. (London : 

 Lovell Reeve and Co., 1SS6.) 



This volume forms the third of a series of studies in 

 comparative anatomy, the object of the authors being to 

 lead the student, by the investigation of some one animal 

 form, to an interest in, and a comprehension of, other 



kindred forms. While it will be generally conceded that 

 this is a sound method of research, it is evident that its 

 success will very much depend on the special forms 

 selected, and we think that it maybe open to some doubt 

 whether, in selecting the cockroach for an introduction to 

 the study of the Insecta, the authors have not selected 

 a too little specialised form, since they have been 

 obliged to omit the investigation of so characteristic a 

 feature of insect life as that of metamorphosis. Never- 

 theless, they have given us a very fully detailed and 

 interesting account of an easily obtained insect, and we 

 hope it may be the means of encouraging many others to 

 follow up the subject for themselves. As an introduction 

 to this volume, we have a short account of the writings 

 of those wonderfully patient pioneers in the field of 

 minute anatomy — Malpighi, Swammerdam, Lyonnet, and 

 Straus-Durckheim. This is followed by a sketch of the 

 zoological position and the life-history of the cockroach. 

 In this latter there is a brief record of the internal para- 

 sites of this insect— a record that might be greatly ex- 

 tended. The chapters on the outer skeleton, the myology, 

 the neural system, the alimentary canal, and the organs 

 of circulation and respiration, are well written and illus- 

 trated. The section relating to the respiratory move- 

 ments of insects is written by Prof Felix Plateau ; that 

 on the embryonic development, by Joseph Xusbaum, who 

 very pertinently remarks that the inexperienced em.bryo- 

 logist will find it more profitable to examine the eggs of 

 bees, of Aphides, or of such Diptera as lay their eggs in 

 water. Indeed, the difficulties in the way of the investiga- 

 tion of the eggs of the cockroach are so great that even 

 the author has had to pass over the early stages of seg- 

 mentation. A chapter on the cockroach of the past, from 

 the able and experienced pen of Prof S. H. Scudder, con- 

 cludes a volume which, though not exhaustive of its 

 subject, nor yet quite even in its treatment of all the 

 branches of that subject, may be placed with the greatest 

 safety and advantage in the student's hands. The authors 

 tell us, in their preface, that, from the description of the 

 cockroach in Huxlev's " Anatomy of Invertebrated Ani- 

 mals," came the impulse which has encouraged them to 

 write the present work. We hope that it will in its turn 

 encourage many another to undertake equally honest 

 researches. 



The Administration Report of the Meteorological Depart- 



7nc7it, India, \Z%<i-%(i. 

 Mr. Blanford's Report, as usual, gives a good account 

 of work. It commences with the actinometric observa- 

 tions. The records from Leh for twenty-three months 

 were not found to be as valuable as had been expected, 

 the climate having turned out unfavourable. The results 

 have been sent home to the Solar Physics Committee, 

 and meanwhile the observations are being continued at 

 Dehra Doon and Mussooree, under the superintendence 

 of Colonel Haig. 



In the matter of forest observations, considerable act- 

 ivity is recorded ; pairs of stations, on the system devised 

 by Ebermayer for Bavaria, have been established at 

 Dehra Doon and Ajmere. These observations have, how- 

 ever, been going on for too short a time for the results to 

 be worth quoting, but much is to be expected from these 

 investigations in India. 



Mr. Blanford gives an account of his forecast of the 

 character of the monsoon rains of 1885 from the character 

 of the Himalayan snowfall, and he shows that the facts 

 fully carried out his theory. The Report goes on with a 

 brief notice of the theory of the South-west Monsoon, 

 which, Mr. Blanford says, he is in a position to show, by 

 his forthcoming Indian Ocean wind-charts, is not the 

 South-cast Trade simply drawn across the equator. 



The remainder of the Report is occupied by details of 

 the observational system, which seems to be in a good 

 state of efficiency. 



