96 Reviews and Book Notices. 



and other coarse herbage ; and had it not been for the giving- 

 way of the soil, thrown up on the south of the drain when it was 

 iirst made, the repairs to which attracted Mr. Laing's attention, 

 they might have remained undiscovered for an indefinite period. 

 So quiet indeed is the spot, that Mr. Laing and some members 

 of his family had the pleasure of watching a litter of foxes play- 

 ing under the roots' of one of the old thorn trees on the side of 

 the bank, near where the boulders lie — proof sufficient of the 

 solitude of the place. 



My best thanks are due to Mr. Barrow and Prof. Kendall for 

 their valuable aid in unravelling the nature and origin of the 

 boulders ; to Mr. Wheeler and others for the information they 

 have supplied ; and to the Rev. C. E. Laing, for bringing the 

 boulders to light. If Incumbents in the country would note 

 any disturbances of the land-surface in their respective parishes, 

 and call attention to them, as Mr. Laing has done in this case, 

 much of interest that would otherwise be lost might sometimes 

 be the result. 



The Romance of Modern Geology, by E. C. Grew. London : 



Seeley & Co., iqog. 308 pp., 5/- 



In this \v(!ll-\vritten volume the editor of ' Knowledge ' gives an enter- 

 taining account of the study of the earth from the earliest times to the 

 advent of man. By comparing our sphere with a golf ball, he makes 

 simple what is usually difficult to explain in a popular way, regarding the 

 early history of our planet. A strong feature of the book is the description 

 of the various extinct animals. This is done in a very careful and pleasant 

 manner, and is illustrated by reproductions of the remarkable drawings 

 wiiich appeared in Knipe's ' Nebula to Man.' The book is prepared for 

 young readers, for whom it will prove exceedingly attractive ; and there 

 is much in it that will appeal to older people. 



Nature near London, by Richard Jefferies. London : Chatto & 

 Windus. 212 pp., 5'- net. 



In wading tiirough the wealth of ' nature study ' literature that is now- 

 at our command, one frequently feels like tramping through a desert, and 

 gets weary of the monotonous stuff whicli the would-be Gilbert Whites have 

 thought fit to have printed. But now and then, like a gem in the sand, a 

 real treasure is our reward ; we find a writer with a soul, whose pen can 

 express his thoughts. Sucli a writer was Richard Jefferies. To read his 

 books is to know what Nature really is, and to learn what one of her 

 devoted sons has seen and heard. In ' Nature near London ' we have 

 one of these refreshing volumes; in it are described what only Jefferies 

 could describe so well ; and to read it leaves one wondering that even he 

 could find so much that is beautiful near that most un-Nature-like place. 

 Would that for our great crowd of book compilers we could exchange but 

 a few like Richard Jefferies, and our literature would be the richer, we 

 should be the wiser. In the present work we have a companion to ' The 

 Open Air,' recently reviewed in these columns. It is as tastefully pro- 

 duced, and is illustrated with a dozen coloured plates by Ruth Dollman, 

 who has well interpreted the scenes described by the author — the plates 

 ' When the June Roses open on the Briars,' and ' A great Hawthorn Bush 

 grows on the Bank ' being superb. 



NaturaLst, 



