210 
NATURE 
2D 
“<5 
[APRIL IQ15 

and no account of the structural geography, 
which is perhaps its most: interesting feature. 
Mr. Bury is an ornithologist, and the natural 
history notes of most value are those dealing with 
the birds, the agriculture, and the climate. The 
book is enlivened with many flashes of humour, 
partly his own and partly quoted from the Arabs, 
such as the letters found on the bodies of those 
who fell in the war of 1871. “To my brother 
Gabriel. ——, son of , is coming to you; 
admit him to Heaven. (Signed) Mohamed Eyad, 
Emir of the Faithful.” 
Mr. Bury begins with a synopsis of the history 
of Yamen, and ends with a forecast of its poli- 
tical future. He hopes, in the interests of both 
Turks and Arabs, that the present war will lead 



work -on -the geology of Armenia, visited the 
eastern shore of the Victoria Nyanza to search 
thoroughly some Miocene deposits which have 
yielded fragments of Dinotherium hobleyi, the 
most important paleontological discovery yet 
made in British East Africa. Dr. Oswald ran- 
sacked the beds, and traced them further inland, 
and obtained fragmentary remains of a fossil tor- 
toise, an extinct elephant, the first baboons found 
fossil in equatorial Africa, and the first fossil 
Protopterus. He also found evidence of the once 
larger size of the Victoria Nyanza, as its beaches 
occur three hundred feet above the present lake 
level. He contributes a very interesting account 
of his experiences. He unintentionally interviewed 
a leopard, and was discovered by the ticks that 

Fic. 1.—Field Terraces, 
to its independence, though he is obviously very 
doubtful whether the natives can manage the 
country by themselves. He appears to think that 
the best hope for Yamen is its annexation to the 
Aden Protectorate. He recognises the sterling 
merit of the individual Turk, and refers to 
Turkey’s disastrous plunge into war with sympa- 
thetic commiseration; he attributes it largely to 
national anger at our retention of the two new 
battleships, for they had been built by public sub- 
scription, to which the Turks contributed their 
utmost as a religious duty. As he remarks, we 
should not like our subscriptions for a new cathe- 
dral to be arbitrarily diverted for the building of 
a mosque. 
(2) Dr. Oswald, who is well known from his 
NO, 2373, VOL. 95] 
From ‘‘ Arabia Infelix ; 
or, The Turks in Yamen.” 
carry relapsing fever, by tsetse fly, and other dis- 
ease-spreading insects. He writes about the 
country with a naturalist’s sympathy and insight. 
Even the white ants impressed him more as useful 
soil-makers than as destructive pests. He is too 
fond of animals to help the reduction of the 
diminishing herds of antelopes, and he strongly 
condemns the uselessness of killing the game to 
prevent the spread of sleeping sickness, since 
other animals and even insects can harbour the 
infection. The author has proved that the Mio- 
cene beds which he went to examine are disap- 
pointingly barren; but he has contributed a very 
useful addition to the geology of this part of 
British East Africa. 
(3) Miss Haviland is a well known ornitholo- 
