308 Northern News. 
chosen with their needs in view, are such as can easily be obtained, the 
figures are drawn from material commonly used in classes for nature 
study, and the photographs are of places such as are frequently visited 
on the rambles of botany students. For those who teach the life histories 
of common plants, important details are given, both of the plants them- 
selves, and as to the best methods of studying them, while related in- 
formation is made easily available by the admirable index. This index isa 
most valuable addition to the usefulness of the volume; it contains over 
4,500 references with sub-indexes to all important subjects. But, apart 
from the subject matter itself, the most remarkable feature is the illus- 
trations ; there are over six hundred drawings, photographs and photo- 
micrographs, of which all but a few figures are entirely new; and they 
have been so well drawn, photographed, and reproduced that the work 
is worth buying for their sakes alone. A special word is due to the printer, 
for type, illustrations, and general arrangement are all that could be 
desired ; evidently the publishers have taken a pride in their work and 
they have produced a volume thoroughly worthy of the Clarendon Press. 
AEA alk 
+O: 
We are glad to see that a past President of the Yorkshire Naturalists” 
Union, Prof. A. C. Seward, F.R.S., has been elected master of Downing 
College, Cambridge. 
No 54 of the Old Lore Series issued by the Viking Society contains 
many interesting records of northern life. There is an illustration of a 
‘ Blogaben,’ the name given to one of the bones of a halibut, carried by 
boatmen to insure good luck. 
From Mr. Arthur Bennett we have received two interesting reprints 
from the Tvansactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh on Juncus 
tenuis, Willd.: Its Distribution in the British Isles,’ and ‘ Hydrilla verti- 
cillata, Caspary, in Great Britain.’ 
We have received the Twenty-first Annual Report, Sectional Reports 
and Records of the Year 1914-15, issued by the Midland Railway Natural 
History Society (24 pages). There are records in many branches of 
natural science, and also reports on archeology. 
Reprinted from the Proceedings of the United States National Museum 
we have received a valuable ‘ Report on Some Carbonic Acid Tests on 
the Weathering of Marbles and Limestones,’ by George P. Merril. The 
experiment seems to be confined to American rocks. 
After some considerable delay, two parts of ‘ The Birds of the Hudders- 
field District’ (Nos. 15 and 16, and Nos. 17 and 18 respectively) have 
appeared, with colloured illustrations. As the work is to be complete with 
20 parts there seems to be some prospect of this being done. 
In connection with the forthcoming meeting of the British Association 
at Manchester, we learn from The Times that ‘ Dr. Dalton will give an 
exhibition and explanation of diagrams illustrating his atomic theory.’ 
This must be one of Sir Oliver Lodge’s ‘rat-tat at the past’ tricks, as 
ordinarily Dr. Dalton has been dead since 1844. 
Leaflet No. 132, issued by the Board of Agriculture is a somewhat 
remarkable pamphlet dealing with slugs and snails. The author’s name is 
not given. The species seem to be classified as grey field slug, bulb or 
root-eating slug, black slug, yellow or household slug, the large garden 
snail, wood snail, strawberry snail, and small-banded snail. 
From the President of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union we have 
received an interesting reprint from The Journal of Botany dealing with 
the ‘Mycetozoa of Australia and New Zealand.’ The material was 
collected during Mr. Cheesman’s trip with the British Association. Mr. 
G. Lister supplements the notes with details of the various species collected. 
Naturalist, 
