Reviews and Book Notices. 197 
it empty. This does not surprise me as the young are now 
fully large enough to have left the nest, and from sounds I 
hear in the thicket, and the behaviour of the old birds, I have 
no doubt they are still being tended and that all is in order. 
Had they been taken, the parents would now have nothing to 
be excited about, but would probably show signs of despondency 
and listlessness. By rustling and playing the Cat, I had them 
again about me, but this, perhaps, can hardly be used as an 
argument, since the stimulus would be in connection with the 
still more paramount law of self-preservation. However, the 
time was ripe for their departure, and it is perhaps even still 
more decisive for their having departed, and in peace, that the 
nest remains im situ and intact. 
———| 0 -—— 
Geology of To-Day. By Prof. J. W. Gregory, F.R.S. London: Seeley, 
Service & Co., Ltd., 328 pages, 5s. net. This is ‘A Popular Introduction 
in Simple Language.’ ‘The book is divided into four sections, Introductory, 
Physical Geology, Historical Geology, and The Story of Life on the Earth. 
Each section is really a small book in itself, and may be said to contain 
the most recent information on the subject dealt with. The illustrations 
and diagrams given with the volume are remarkably fine. An indication 
of the up-to-dateness of the book is shown by the fact that the Piltdown 
skull is described. It is a well printed volume and is remarkably cheap 
at 5s. The frontispiece shows a statue of Agassiz thrown from its niche 
above Arches, Stanford University, and is one of the most extraordinary 
geological photographs we have seen. 
Plant Life in the British Isles. By A. R. Horwood. London.: J. and 
A, Churchill, 1915, Vol. IIIl., pp. xvi.+513, 6s. 6d. net. This is the third 
and concluding volume on ‘ Plant Life in the British Isles,’ by Mr. Hor- 
wood, and follows similar lines to the two earlier volumes already noticed 
in the pages of this journal. In an introduction of 95 pages, the author 
deals with what he terms ‘ the main principles of botany in brief.’ As in 
the previous volumes, this consists of a scrappy condensation of facts and 
fancies gleaned from a very varied literature, rather than a clear enun- 
ciation of those elementary principles which it is necessary to place before 
the beginner, for whom the work is written. In his endeavour to bring 
in a wide range of subjects, the references are often too brief to be of value 
and tend rather to confusion than helpfulness. Teleological explanations 
are much to the fore, and are sure to produce erroneous impressions in the 
mind of the young botanist. The very wide field covered, naturally 
carries the author at times out of his depth, but he errs also on simpler 
points, as when, on page 46, he refers to the germination of the seed as 
‘the initial stage of a new generation.’ It will be news to the field botanist 
that the Marsh Samphire (Salicornia herbacea) ‘is found in all parts of the 
British Isles.’ The Saltwort (Salsola), we are told ‘is one of the strand 
plants which take the place of a sand-dune formation where no dunes are 
formed.’ This we suppose is an illustration of Ecology! Although, on 
page 330, we are assured that the seeds of the Bluebell ‘ are dispersed by 
the wind,’ those familar with our common woodland plants will be con- 
vinced with difficulty that this is the usual mode of dispersal, or even that 
the smooth globular seeds are well adapted for this purpose. Notwith- 
standing these blemishes, the author has brought together a large col- 
lection of interesting facts concerning our wild flowers, and the 121 photo- 
graphic illustrations are a further aid to the usefulness of this well- 
printed volume. 
1915 June J. N 
