382 I^ews fyoiii the Magazines. 



for Robin Hood's Bay. Monday, 5th September, was utilized for work 

 among Scarborough rock-pools, under ideal conditions of tide and weather, 

 but no additions were made to the numerous records of previous years, 

 notwithstanding the large amount (jf material examined. — J. Irving. 



o 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



A REX ARIA GOTHIC A Fr. 

 In The Yorkshire Post of September 30th, iQii, a note appeared headed 

 ' Indigenous Plants,' and speaking of the above species, reports it as 

 ' now fast spreading over two or three counties, for it has been largely 

 deported by interested botanists.' What authority is there for the 

 above, what are the counties, and who are the interested botanists? 

 These unqualified statements are of no value, certainly botanically; but 

 who was the writer, and why are they made ? — A. Bennett. 



C. Davies Sherborn and Tom Iredale write on 'J. F. Miller's Icones ' 

 in The Ibis recently. A recent discovery by Sherborn renders changes in 

 nomenclature necessary, as, for example, on page 307 we learn ' Phceni- 

 ciilus purpureus (Miller). This now will be tlie correct name for the bird 

 long known as Irrisor viriciis, afterwards as I. evythrorhynchits.' And 

 (p. 309) ' Ardea navia Miller. This is earlier than Ardea nesvia 

 Boddaert in use for the American form of Nyciicorax nycticorax , and it 

 appears doubtful whether these are exactly the same thing,' etc. 



The Nineteenth Century and After, for September, among eighteen 

 valuable essays, contains ' The Curlewin Devonshire,' by Dr. Gordon, 

 and ' Matters of Fact,' by Sir Ray Lankester. In the latter Sir Ray is 

 at his best, and uses his pen with some effect in exposing the absurdities 

 of an ai'ticle by a reverend gentlemen named Clarke in a previous issue 

 of the journal, in which the reverend gentleman's ' grandiose ambition 

 is to discredit the Darwinian doctrine of the evolution of man from the 

 lower animals.' We should like Mr. Clarke to reply, if he can ! 



Field Mapping for the Oil Geologist. — By C. A. Warner, x.4- 



145 pp., 40 illustrations, price 13/6 net. New York : John Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 1921. The live chapters 

 in this small manual deal with the study of field conditions, maps and 

 their interpretation, field mapping and methods, field mapping instru- 

 ments and useful tables and meridian determination. The aim of the 

 author has been to furnish a handbook of field methods that would be of 

 value to those geologists who have had little experience with the methods 

 commonly used in examining a territory not yet drilled. To a beginner 

 the work may be useful, but little occurs in the text which is not fully 

 covered by a first year course in oil geology at any recognised school or 

 imiversity. The pages dealing with the interpretation and compilation 

 of both topographic and geologic maps contain much useful information 

 referring entirely to the features of the United States territory. The 

 author assumes throughout that the geologic conditions for reconnaissance 

 and structural mapping are ideal, a state of affairs, however, which 

 rarely obtains in the field. .\n interesting and instructive chapter deals 

 entirely with the modern instruniMits and appliances used by the petrol- 

 eum geologist, and contains much valuable information, especially to 

 British students who are usually unfamiliar with American field methods. 

 The last sixty pages of the book comprise useful tables and meridian 

 determination. These may have a certain value from a reference point 

 of view, but are unnecessary in an elem:ntary treatise of this nature. 

 There is a good index. — G.S. 



Naturalist 



