190 
NATO RE 
[ApRIL 25, 1912 
and the nature of the so-called annual rings. 
From the age of individuals we are led on to 
archeological evidence of antiquity. ‘‘ From the 
period claimed by archeologists we pass by 
gradual stages into the domain of the geologist.” 
Before entering on this field, a chapter on 
geographical distribution, a subject of which the 
importance has not always been realised by 
modern students, is appropriately introduced. 
Darwin’s high appreciation of the study of dis- 
tribution, which he called “that almost keystone 
of the laws of creation,” is emphasised. Quite 
recently, interest in distribution, stimulated by 
the kindred study of ecology, has much revived. 
In his sketch of the geological record, Prof. 
Seward points out that the history of the world’s 
flora must go back immensely farther than our 
records show. “The relics of plant-life furnished 
by the Devonian and succeeding formations re- 
present the upper branching-systems of a deeply 
rooted and spreading tree, the lowest portions 
of which have been Spiers or have left no 
sign of their existence’’ (p. 4 
“The preservation of pics as fossils is the 
subject of chapter iv. A particularly striking 
picture of the flood-plain of the Rio Colorado, with 
drift-wood stretching over a tract 25 miles 
across, gives a vivid idea of how a fossil ‘‘ pine- 
raft ’’ may have been formed. 
The four succeeding chapters illustrate the 
general theme by special examples of ‘links 
with the past,’’ taken from the ferns, the big 
trees of California, the Araucaria family, and 
the maiden-hair tree. 
The illustrations throughout are remarkably 
good. Mr. Tansley’s photographs of Malayan 
ferns are of exceptional beauty. The book con- 
cludes with a full bibliography and a useful index. 
IDE ists Se 
How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds. By 
M. Hiesemann. ‘Translated by Emma S. 
Buchheim. With an introduction by Her Grace 
the Duchess of Bedford. Second edition, with 
many revisions. Pp. 101. (London: Witherby 
and Co., 1911.) Price 1s. 6d. net. 
We have already directed attention (Nature, 
July 22, 1909) to the first edition of the useful 
little work by Martin Hiesemann on the practical 
preservation and protection of birds by the pro- 
vision or creation of opportunities for their breed- 
ing, winter feeding, and by fighting the enemies 
of birds, and little remains to be said of the 
second edition except that it has been revised 
and enlarged in many essential points. This 
excellent little book was written for Germany, 
where the birds’ natural conditions of life differ 
somewhat from those prevailing in this country. 
For instance, our winters are less severe, and so 
less systematic feeding at that season may be 
necessary; our country is, generally speaking, 
less open and more wooded (hedgerows, gardens, 
and ornamental grounds and plantations being 
taken as woodlands in this connection), so that 
the provision of special breeding plantations may 
NO. 2217, VOL. 89| 
not be desirable here. Our birds of prey have 
been closely killed down, and there seems to be 
no way (permitted by law) of dealing with the 
domestic cat, the birds’ worst enemy in this 
country. 
But the portion of the book dealing with the 
provision of nesting places for birds which breed 
in holes deserves the closest consideration by those 
who wish to encourage the different species which 
fall under this category; for the difficulty experi- 
enced by these birds in finding nesting places 
has greatly increased, since by the rules of 
modern forestry nearly every old tree is felled, 
without regard to the fact that the holes it con- 
tains serve as shelters and nesting places. Those 
men who care only for what is of practical use 
grudge the old, decayed trees the little space on 
which they stand, and prefer to convert them into 
firewood. The remedy for this is the provision 
of nesting boxes, and we are told here what is 
the right sort of box, and the right—and the 
wrong—way of hanging them up. The illustra- 
tions are numerous and very useful. 
Applied Biology. An Elementary Textbook and 
Laboratory Guide. By Prof. M. A. Bigelow 
and Anna N. Bigelow. Pp. xi+583. (New 
York: The Macmillan Co. ; London: Macmillan 
and|Go., Ltd:, 1910) ebrreeios= net 
Tuis volume has been prepared for use in higher 
schools during a year’s course of five hours per 
week. The frog and the bean-plant are taken 
as types for the study of animal- and _ plant- 
structure and biology. The succeeding part of 
the book contains an account of the structure 
and life-histories of “seed-plants” and “spore 
plants ’’ (ferns, mosses, alge, fungi, and bac- 
teria). The chief phyla of the animal kingdom 
are traversed in the third part of the book; but 
the authors have attempted to compress too much 
material into these 140 pages, with the result that 
many subjects are necessarily considered so 
briefly that only imperfect ideas of them are 
‘conveyed. For instance, “‘ Paramecia reach a 
state when they are unable to continue to divide. 
Two such individuals come into contact, and 
through their delicate cell-walls some of the 
nucleus of each one passes over to join the 
nucleus of the other,’’-—is surely an incorrect and 
inadequate account of the conjugation phenomena. 
There are a few slips in this part of the work, 
e.g., the sword-fish is placed among the car- 
tilaginous fishes. The succeeding part of the 
work deals in an interesting manner with the 
structure of the human alimentary canal, diges- 
tion, food-values, blood, respiration, excretion, 
and nervous activity, and leads up to an applica- 
tion of biological principles to personal hygiene. 
The book contains much information on bio- 
logical subjects of public interest, e.g., toxins 
and anti-toxins, mosquitoes and flies in relation 
to disease, the bacterial treatment of sewage, 
parasites in meat, and shows clearly the important 
bearing of a knowledge of biological science on 
many aspects of human life. 
