OCTCBER 14, 1909] 



NA TURE 



455 



pharmacog-nosy should be a trained pharmacognosist. 

 As an account of the morphology and anatomy of 

 drugs it might have been successful ; as a text-book 

 of pharmacognosy it is a failure. 



Henry G. Greenish. 



Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenac in the British 



Museum. Vol. viii., Catalogue of the Noctuidas. 



By Sir George F. Hampson, Bart. Pp. xiv+s83; 



pis. cxxiii-cxxxvi, and 162 text-figures. (London : 



British Museum, Natural History, 1909.) Text, 



price i^s. ; plates, price 13S. 

 We have again to congratulate Sir George F. Hamp- 

 son and the Trustees of the British Museum on the 

 completion of another volume of the great catalogue 

 of moths, which bids fair to surpass even the cata- 

 logue of birds in extent and importance. Vol. viii., 

 now before us, is the fifth volume devoted to the 

 Xoctuidae, and the second of the great subfamily 

 .Vcronyctinse, which it will require a third volume 

 to complete. Fifteen subfamilies of Noctuidre were 

 indicated by the author at the commencement of his 

 work; possibly he may find it necessary to increase the 

 number before its completion. The .Acronyctinae, 

 occupying three volumes, is only the fourth sub- 

 family out of the fifteen, but, in the sense in which 

 the author employs it, it is; perhaps, the most exten- 

 sive of all. The remaining subfamilies, with three or 

 four exceptions, appear likely to be of very much 

 smaller dimensions. 



Works of this character are far too costly to be 

 undertaken by private enterprise, and though the price 

 at whicli they are published by the museum cannot 

 be remunerative, the cost of an extensive work issued 

 in successive volumes soon becomes prohibitive to 

 private students. 



Hence we would urge on the librarians of public 

 libraries and museums at home and abroad to secure 

 sets of such publications as those of the British 

 Museum before the volumes become too numerous, 

 and before any of the earlier ones go out of print. 

 Alany of the earlier publications of the Museum were 

 issued in comparatively small numbers, and several 

 are now scarce and difficult to obtain. Sometimes 

 early volumes have been exhausted even before the 

 whole series has been completed. This is another 

 reason why public libraries, to which they will always 

 be valuable, should not neglect to add them to their 

 shelves as soon as they appear. 



The Geology of South Africa. By Dr. F. H. Hatch and 



Dr. G. S. Corstorphine. Second Edition. Pp. xvi + 



389. (Lx)ndon : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1909.) 



Price 2 IS. net. 



The general scheme of the book remains the same as 



in the first edition, but the authors have skilfully 



rearranged portions of the original subject-matter 



and have made those additions which the rapid 



advance of geological investigation in South .■\frica 



since 1905 has rendered nccessarv. 



To digest and sift the numerous official and un- 

 official reports dealing with the geology of .South 

 Africa is no easy task, and with respect to the 

 stratigraphy of these regions, the authors have 

 evidently spared no pains to bring the book up to 

 date. They, however, almost entirely ignore the 

 many interesting problems connected with the origin 

 and development of the present physical features, of 

 which striking' examples have been illustrated and 

 described in the reports of the surveys of Cape 

 Colony, of the Transvaal, and of Natal, as well as 

 in other publications. This is an obvious omission 

 in a work entitled "The Geologv of South .Africa." 

 In dealing with the correlation of the widely 

 scattered formations, the authors speak in a guarded 

 SO. 20S5, VOL. 81] 



manner, but their suggested correlation of the older 

 formations will not pass unchallenged. 



The illustrations, of which many are new, retain 

 a high standard of excellence. The figures illustrat- 

 ing the fossils of the Karroo are the least attractive, 

 and are hardly representative, especially with respect 

 to the well-known and interesting reptilian remains. 

 The general index is far too meagre, and the index 

 of place-names is overburdened by a superfluity _ of 

 mere page references of more annoyance than assist- 

 ance to the general reader. 



Handbook for Field Geologists. By Dr. C. W. Hayes. 

 Pp. ix+159. (New Vork : J. Wiley and Sons; 

 London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1909.) Price 

 6s. bd. net. 

 The preface states that this worl-c originated in a 

 handbook printed in 1908 for distribution to members 

 of the United States Geological Survey. _ Requests 

 for copies of this were so numerous that it was re- 

 written, omitting those instructions which apply only 

 to members of the Government Geological Survey, and 

 enlarging upon certain features which will be of ser- 

 vice to students preparing for work in field geology. 

 In spite of this declaration the book still contains 

 much which is only applicable to members of a 

 Government Survey in the United States, but is, be- 

 sides, a very practical little handbook, the treatment 

 of the problems connected with the determination of 

 dip, thickness, and depth of beds being perhaps the 

 least satisfactory part. These problems, if properly 

 put, are of great simplicity ; but the beginner, trusting 

 to Dr. Hayes, might well conclude that there was 

 some subtle difference between the dip of a fault plane 

 and the dip of a stratum, and that problems which 

 mav be tackled in the one case are insoluble in the 

 other. 



An attempt has been made to get over the difficulty 

 of making the same work at once a beginner's guide 

 and an expert's vade niecmn by dividing it into two 

 sections, and of the two the latter seems better done. 

 The schedules of subjects to be noticed in special in- 

 vestigations have their use in refreshing the memory 

 whenever a fresh piece of work is entered on, but 

 the ideal geologist's pocket-book is yet unpublished. 

 Engineers and architects have their little books 

 crammed with information cut up into pieces, each 

 complete in itself, so that temporary lapse of memory 

 on any particular point can be rectified, or reference 

 made to figures which the human brain cannot carry, 

 but which must be accurately known if required at all. 

 Geologists, on the other hand, whether on account 

 of the smallness of their number or their supposed 

 addiction to dilettante methods, are condemned to 

 wade through a mass of matter, with which they are 

 f;imiliar, to obtain the particular piece of information 

 of which they are in search. 



Physiology : a Popular Account of the Functions of 

 the Human Body. By Dr. Andrew Wilson. Pp. 

 vii + i2S. (London: Milncr and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 

 Price JS. net. 

 As a contribution to scientific literature this book is 

 negligible ; as a popular exposition of the elementary 

 principles of physiology it is untrustworthy. It is no 

 part of a reviewer's duty to enumerate the errors scat- 

 tered through it ; it will be sufficient to take one as 

 a sample. " The red blood corpuscles are also car- 

 riers of carbonic acid gas to the lungs . _. . andthe 

 darker colour of impure or venous blood is explained 

 bv the fact that when carbonic acid gas unites with 

 the ha?moglobin a darker hue is produced " (p. 64). 

 A first year's student knows better than this. It 

 would be better to leave the writing of physiological 

 text-books to those who know something of physi- 

 ology. W. D. H. 



