Fe —E_- 
May 16, 1912] 
NATURE 
267 
OUR BOOKSHELF. 
Our Weather. By J. S. Fowler and William 
Marriott. (The Temple Primers.) Pp. xi+131. 
(London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1912.) 
Price 1s. net. 
Tuts book belongs to a series of small volumes 
intended to form introductions to the subjects of 
which they treat. Into its 120 pages Messrs. 
Fowler and Marriott have compressed a great 
deal of useful information. After a brief intro- 
ductory chapter explaining why a popular book 
about weather is a practical necessity, they 
discuss in turn pressure, temperature, humidity, 
wind, and allied phenomena. They 
with weather-forecasting, the upper air, and 
phenological observations, and conclude with a 
chapter on proverbs and rhymes. 
The book is very readable, and the authors 
have carefully refrained from explanations or 
reasoning which might puzzle or bore the un- 
initiated reader. There are, however, a few 
points to which it may be useful to direct atten- 
tion. The chapter on pressure contains a table 
showing the heights at which pressures of 20, 
28, . 21 inches are reached when the pres- 
sure at sea-level is 30 inches, but the tempera- 
ture with which the values correspond is not stated, 
nor is there any indication to the reader that 
temperature affects the results. In connection 
with the curve of annual variation of temperature, 
it is stated that the most noticeable irregularities 
are the cold days about the middle of May, and 
the warm spell at the end of November, but a 
reference to the curve shows that only the 
slightest irregularities occurein May. The most 
marked feature is the cold period in the second 
and third weeks of June, which is also mentioned 
by Hann as the general outstanding irregularity 
in the annual variation of temperature in Europe. 
Months of unequal length are a general source 
of trouble in meteorological statistics, and the 
authors repeat the common mistake of including 
February with March as the driest of the twelve 
months at Greenwich, although the daily rainfall 
in the former month is greater than in April. 
In connection with forecasting, the statement that 
the information received by telegram is plotted 
on two maps, one for pressure and wind, and one 
for temperature and weather, is erroneous: the 
information is plotted on one working chart. 
BeaaG: 
Philips’ Comparative Series of Wall Atlases. 
Edited by J. F. Unstead and E. G. R. Taylor. 
Europe. 8 maps. (Mounted complete as a 
wall atlas, on cloth, with roller.) Price 21s. 
Explanatory Handbook (to accompany the 
above). Pp. 16. Price 6d. net. (London: 
G. Philip and Son, Ltd.; Liverpool: Philip, 
Son, and Nephew, Ltd., 1912.) 
Tuis series of maps should prove of great service 
to teachers of regional geography, as they show 
political conditions, railways and configuration, 
climate, density of population, and economic con- 
ditions. The map showing communications illus- 
trates admirably the influence of mountain 
NO. 2220, VOL. 89] 
then deal | 
| ranges, passes, and river valleys on transport. 
It is generally complete, though for some reason 
the Algerian railways have been omitted. The 
Density of Population is a graphic map with suffi- 
cient detail for the comparison of regions with 
one another. Used with the other maps, it 
should help to indicate the dependence of popula- 
tion on manufacturing areas, railway lines, river 
valleys and lowlands, and the comparative isola- 
tion of mountain areas, tundra, and desert. Un- 
fortunately, this comparison is not possible in 
| Africa and Asia, as the map stops short at the 
boundaries of Europe. 
The climate maps show winter and summer 
conditions of temperature, pressure, winds, and 
rainfall. Actual temperature conditions are not 
shown, but the orographical features are printed 
on the map of summer and winter lines of tem- 
perature, so that reference can be made to real 
temperatures by allowing for elevation at any 
particular place or along any given line of tem- 
perature. Detailed maps of actual temperature 
must, like detailed orographical maps, be very 
complex, but we cannot help regretting that some 
simple maps of this kind have not been added to 
the series for summer and winter, with perhaps . 
only a few selected lines of critical temperatures, 
| as their value is incontestable as a means of 
comparison between regions. 
On the whole, we have nothing but praise for 
| this series, which affords most valuable material 
for the study of regional geography. The text- 
book which accompanies the maps points out 
clearly the general way in which they may be used. 
The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and 
Burma. Edited by Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S. 
Assisted by Guy A. K. Marshall.— Coleop- 
tera. General Introduction and Cicindelide 
and Pausside. By Dr. W. W. Fowler. 
Pp. xx+529. (London: Taylor and Francis; 
Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.; Bombay : 
| Thacker and Co., Ltd.; Berlin: R. Friedlander 
& Sohn, 1912.) Price 20s. 
Tue volume before us differs somewhat in plan 
from most of those which have preceded it. The 
first half (up to p. 218) consists of a very 
elaborate introduction to the Coleoptera, giving 
a detailed account of the whole series of families 
(103, exclusive of Strepsiptera) recognised by the 
author in the order, whether represented in the 
Indian region or not. The ‘‘ Abnormal Coleop- 
tera: Strepsiptera or Stylopide,’’ incidentally 
alluded to, are not yet proved to be Indian. We 
may point out that it was Kirby, the original 
discoverer of these insects, who proposed to make 
them a separate order (Strepsiptera), and West- 
wood merely followed him. 
The two families of beetles dealt with in the 
latter half of this volume are specially interesting : 
the beautiful and active Cicindelide, or tiger 
beetles, and the Pausside, which are remarkable 
for the curious structure of their antenne, and 
also for their habits, several species being found 
in ants’ nests, and detonating like the well-known 
| bombadier beetles (Brachinus). 
