271 



REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 



The Young Beetle-Collector's Handbook, by Dr. E. Hofmann. With 

 an Introduction by W. Egmont Kirby, M.D. 3rd Edition. London, 

 Swan, Sonnenscliein & Co., Ltd. 178 pp. 



We can thoroughly recommend this book to the beginner in the study 

 of the Coleoptera. For so cheap a work, the twenty coloured plates with 

 which it is adorned are excellent, and will prove of great assistance to the 

 young student in naming the larger species. For the smaller species, 

 however, since these are only figured life-size, the illustrations are not 

 quite so useful, although they will enable the tiro to identify genera. As 

 is natural in a book of this character, little attempt is made to describe 

 the smaller species, the greater part of the text and plates dealing with the 

 larger beetles, which it is usually the young collector's first desire to obtain. 

 A few of the beetles referred to are continental ; species found in Britain, 

 although far outnumbering the continental-only forms, being distinguished 

 by an asterisk. The letterpress, paper, arrangement and general ' get- 

 up ' of the book are commendable, and the volume, is provided with an 

 index. 



Part 13 of Wild Beasts of the World (T. C. and E. C. Jack) contains 

 excellent coloured plates of several of the large rmammals, including the 

 giraffe, and the okapi. 



Fossil Plants, by E. A. Newell Arber. Gowan and Gray, Ltd:, 1909. 

 75 pp., 6d. net. 



This is issued as No. 21 of this firm's well-known sixpenny ' Nature 

 Books," and contains reproductions from sixty clear photographs of typical 

 Carboniferous plants, together with several pages of scientific matter by 

 Mr. Newell Axber, whose incorrect initials — E.H. — twice on t'ne cover, seem 

 unfamiliar. To the student of Coal Measure plants these photographs 

 shew almost as well as do the actual hand specimens or microscope sections. 

 They are all correctly named, and work out to more than ten a penny ! 



The Natural History of Igneous Rocks, by Alfred Harker, M.A., F.R.S., 

 London. JMethuen & Co. 384 pp., 12/6 net. 



We are glad to have the opportunity of drawing attention to the excel- 

 lent volume by a former member of the editorial staff of this journal, 

 Mr. Alfred Harker. The subject has not previously been dealt with in 

 the form INIr. Harker now presents it, viz., from a purely geological or 

 ' natural history ' standpoint. The substance of the volume was first 

 prepared in connection with a course of lectures delivered by the author 

 at Cambridge, and all students of petrology will welcome the information 

 in the present readable and easil}'- accessible form. The first portion of 

 the book deals with igneous rocks and igneous action ; it tlien deals with 

 the crystallization of igneous rock-magmas, regarded as complex solutions. 

 In this work Mr. Harker gives the results of his life's work amongst the 

 igneous rocks, and his descriptions are much simplified by the numerous 

 drawings and diagrams in the text. ' The Natural History of Igneous 

 Rocks ' will certainly at once take its place in t'ne front rank of solid 

 contributions to the more difficult branches of geological research. W^e 

 believe we have described the publishers of the work correctly, but the 

 title is so messed up with a quite unnecessary rubber stamp, that all we 

 can trace is ' Me . . . Co. 36 . . . W.C. ondo.' 



Notes and Jottings from Animal Life by the late Frank Buckland. 

 New Edition. Smith, Elder and Co. 414 pp., 3/6. 



Although the title-page of this volume is dated 1909, the preface is 

 still dated 1882. But t'ne book is well known, and the many quaint stories 

 of animal life are quite refreshing. The stories relate to almost every 

 phase of life. We have had to put our copy down two or three times ; 

 laut a friend at last assured us that the type really was like that ! Se\-eral 

 pages have been printed twice. 



1909 July I. 



