S46 



NATURE 



[June 



1913 



The editor's paper on the sand-wasp (Odynerus 

 spinipes) was welcome as breaking new ground 

 in photography, for of photographs of birds it is 

 possible to get weary, unless they have something" 

 new to tell us ; and that is by no means always 

 the case, in spite of the editor's extravagant claim 

 (p. 8J that our knowledge of British birds has 

 been doubled in the last decade by photography 

 alone. 



We are glad to see that in the four succeeding 

 numbers the art is applied freely to insects and 

 reptiles, as well as to birds and quadrupeds. The 

 March number contains some admirable photos 

 of the three species of British snakes, and also a 

 good paper on the snake-fly and the alder-fly, with 

 illustrations showing a decided improvement on 

 those of the sand-wasps. The April number has 

 a paper with good illustrations of young moles, 

 and the May number is appropriately devoted 

 mainly to the cuckoo. Special mention may be 

 made of Mr. Oliver Pike's "bioscope record" of 

 the performance of a young cuckoo in ejecting 

 from the nest a sedge-warbler older and larger 

 than itself. We wish the editor and his contribu- 

 tors all success in their work, hoping at the same 

 time that, in spite of the beauty of its illustra- 

 tions, Wild Life will not be used by beginners 

 simply as a picture-book. 



Photographic Supplement to Stanford's Geological 

 Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland. Arranged 

 and edited by H. B. Woodward, F.R.S., with 

 the cooperation of Miss Hilda D. Sharpe. Pp. 

 113. (London: Edward Stanford, Ltd., 1913.) 

 Price 45. net. 

 Two years ago Miss Hilda Sharpe published a 

 field notebook of geological illustrations (see 

 Nature, vol. lxxxviii., p. 74), and she has now 

 done further service by collecting nearly half the 

 photographs in Mr. H. B. Woodward's volume. 

 Some of the remaining half have been previously 

 published by the Geological Survey, and others are 

 from the series in the care of the British Associa- 

 tion. Among the most original and suggestive 

 are Miss Sharpe's own "View from Summit of 

 Caer Caradoc," showing the outweathered cones 

 of Uriconian rock, and Mr. Armstrong's " Escarp- 

 ment of Millstone Grit, near Leek." Landscapes 

 like these, and the Survey's "Raised Beaches near 

 Strome Ferry," illustrate the geological atlas 

 better than any number of quarry-sections. Among 

 the latter, however, the Jurassic Clay and Lime- 

 stone at Bromham (No. 68) and the Chalk and 

 Thanet Sand at Crayford (No. 89) are highly char- 

 acteristic. The Scotch views include the Torridon 

 Sandstone and the mountainous features near 

 Glen Etive ; but the wild heart of Skye is un- 

 represented. Ireland is honoured by one picture, 

 a rather distant view of the Giant's Causeway; 

 but should this very compact basaltic lava be called 

 a dolerite? 



We are glad to see Mr. H. Preston's work in 

 England well utilised, as in the cases of the Nor- 

 wich Crag of Thorpe (No. 97) and the massive 

 limestones of Lincolnshire ; but such a book always 

 makes us ask for more. Those who use the atlas 

 NO. 2275, VOL. 91] 



will look for further help in realising the country. 

 Can we not have the cirques of Snowdon, the long- 

 lakes of Westmoreland, white between their rain- 

 swept hills, the highland border beyond Stirling, 

 or the scarp of the intrusive sheet that fixed the 

 margin of the Roman world? <■■ A. J. C. 



.4 Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of 

 British Birds. By H. Kirke Swann. Pp. xii + 

 266. (London: 'Witherby and Co., 1913.) 

 Price 105. net. 

 Tins book is strictly a dictionary, and on that 

 account less interesting to turn over than Mr. 

 Swainson's "Provincial Names of Birds," pub- 

 lished for the English Dialect Society in 1886, 

 which also dealt to some extent with the folklore. 

 Mr. Swann, however, claims to have added some 

 three thousand names to those collected by his 

 predecessor : he has evidently taken great pains, 

 and deserves much credit for a handbook which 

 will always be useful. We will make one critical 

 remark only. If Welsh, Gaelic, Cornish, and 

 Irish names are freely admitted to the list, why 

 not Anglo-Saxon, which are at the roots of our 

 own local names? "Enid," for example, was the 

 English word for a duck till the fifteenth century, 

 but it is not here. Mr. Sw-ann's work begins with 

 Chaucer ; but he might well search the Anglo- 

 Saxon vocabularies for addenda to a second 

 edition. 



Religious Beliefs of Scientists: Including over 

 140 hitherto Unpublished Letters on Science 

 and Religion from Eminent Men of Science. By 

 A. H. Tabrum. With an Introduction by Rev. 

 C. L. Drawbridge. New and enlarged edition. 

 Pp. xxi + 309. (London: Hunter and Long- 

 hurst, 1913.) Price 25. 6d. net. 

 To the second edition of this collection of letters 

 forty new communications, which Mr. Tabrum has 

 received in reply to his questions from workers in 

 science, have been added. Such a compilation of 

 opinions must necessarily be of doubtful value, 

 the questions propounded unavoidably lack pre- 

 cision, and the answers too often turn out to be 

 very general in character. But the volume will 

 be of interest to the class of reader who is anxious 

 to know the opinions of distinguished men on im- 

 portant questions outside their own special fields 

 of knowledge. 



The British Empire with its World Setting. By 

 1 J. B. Reynolds. Pp. viii + 200. (London: 

 Adam and Charles Black, 1913.) Price is. ^d. 

 The attempt to survey the geography of the 

 British Empire in a little book of this size, at the 

 same time providing an outline sketch of the 

 geography of the rest of the world and upwards 

 of ninety maps, diagrams, and illustrations, more 

 than forty of them being full-page pictures, was 

 bound to lead to very severe compression. The 

 number of place-names on a single page is often 

 far greater than children can be expected reason- 

 ably to remember. The book is very attractive 

 in appearance, and the writer's name is a guaran- 

 tee for accuracv. 



