NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



'UN2fl920 



EXIT THE ZOOLOGIST. 



We much regret to read the following in British Birds 

 for January : — ' The well-known and old-established natural 

 history monthly, The Zoologist, having been acquired by the 

 proprietors of British Birds, is now incorporated with this 

 magazine. While we welcome this union as an accession 

 to our journal, we can but deplore the cessation as a separate 

 publication of our aforetime contemporary, which has had so 

 long and honourable a career of usefulness. The Zoologist 

 was established in 1843 by Edward Newman, who edited it 

 until his death in 1876. From 1877 to 1896 the journal 

 was conducted by Mr. J. E. Harting, and this was no doubt 

 its most flourishing period so far as ornithology is concerned. 

 From 1897 to 1914 Mr. W. L. Distant was Editor, and in 

 1915 he was succeeded by Mr. Frank Finn.' 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



' So far as the future of our magazine is concerned, we do 

 not propose to make any serious change in its scope or policy. 

 It will still be devoted entirely to Birds, and it is with regret 

 that we must exclude from its pages all other branches of Natural 

 History which found a place in The Zoologist. We propose, 

 however, while still specializing in the birds of the British 

 list, slightly to enlarge our scope by admitting a limited number 

 of articles and notes on the avifauna of other parts of the 

 western portion of the Palaearctic Region or, in other words, 

 of Europe and North-west Africa.' From this, it is obvious 

 that The Zoologist, which has been such a friend to British 

 naturalists, virtually ceases, especially as British Birds does 

 not seem to contain any additional pages. In fact, if anything, 

 it is even smaller, the present number containing only 24 

 pages, whereas formerly it contained 36 pages ; and The 

 Zoologist averaged 40 pages per month. 



TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN.* 



In the first paragraph of this book, we find that the author, 

 who has written on ' Genesis and Evolution of the Individual 

 Soul,' ' The Birth and Growth of Toleration,' ' Wooing and 

 Wedding,' etc., tells us that he writes ' the last line of this 

 book with a sigh at the incompleteness of his work. He is 

 conscious he has touched but the fringe of the mantle covering 

 the form of the silent Muse of History.' We sigh in sympathy 

 with him, and agree with his opinion. When, however, he 

 modestly informs us, ' the present work is intended to furnish 

 a compendious guide to readers who desire to study the fruits 



* By the Rev. J. C. Bevan. London : Chapman & Hall, 66 pages, 

 2s. 6d. net. 



1917 Feb. -1. 



