6o 



NEW BOOKS ON GEOLOGY, ETC. 



The Geology of the Country around Nottingham, by G. W. Lamplugh 

 and W. Gibson {72 pp., 2/-), is a distinct improvement upon many of the 

 geological survey publications, inasmuch as it is quite readable and interest- 

 ing from cover to cover. It is well illustrated, too, by a comparatively 

 large number of reproductions of excellent photographs, which are ])rinted 

 on quite decent plate paper, and the illustrations in the text arc not copied 

 from rough sketches of fossils made bj' primitive man, such as adorn the 

 pages of some of our Government Geological Survey publications. There is 

 also a special chapter devoted to ' Supplementary Notes for Students ' ! E\i- 

 dently, the ' powers that be,' whoever they are, seem at last to be realizing 

 that it is not essential in a government publication of tliis sort to have 

 merely dry statistics, and bare — very bare — facts, with pre-liistoric wood- 

 cuts, badly printed on bad paper. The cover, too, can be handled without 

 one's fingers .slipping through the paper, though in our copy it must be 

 admitted the ' cover ' is smaller than the pages inside ; though tliis is 

 probably owing to the fact that the co\'ers were cut before the tliickness 

 of the plates was allowed for ! 



We have received three of the excellently printed and well-bound 

 volumes issued by the Cambridge University Press at the extremelv low 

 price of i /- each. They average 150 pages each, and are well illustrated. 

 The first is by Prof. A. C. Seward, a past-president of the Yorkshire Nat- 

 uralists' Union, and deals with ' Links with the Past in the Plant World,' a 

 subject which he recently touched upon in the pages of The Xaturalist. 

 He deals with the Longevity of Trees, Plant Distribution, the Geological 

 Record, Fossil Plants, Ferns : their c istribution and antiquity, Californian 

 trees, the Maiden Hair Tree; and in addition, he gives an extensive bililio- 

 graphy. On somewhat similar lines, but dealing with the animal world, 

 is Mr. Geoffrey Smith's ' Primitive Animals.' This has chapters on the 

 Animal Phyla, Simple Animals and Plants, and the Origin of Life ; the 

 Appcnciculate Phylum, Embryonic and Larval Histories ; the Ancestry 

 of the Vertebrates ; the Origin of Land Vertebrates ; the Rise of the 

 Mammalia ; and on the past and future of animal life. From this enumera- 

 tion of the contents, it will be seen how exceedingly interesting is the 

 nature of this work. A companion volume, Life in the Sea, by Mr. James 

 Johnstone, refers to the Categories of Life, Rhythmical Change in the Sea, 

 the Factors of Distribution, Modes of Nutrition, and the Sources of 

 Food. There is also a useful list of authorities. These three volumes have 

 the further advantage of being written in non-technical language. 



Waves of the Sea and other Water Waves, by Dr. Vaughan Cornish. 



London : T. Fisher l^nwin. 374 pp., 10/- net. 



Dr. Vaughan Cornish has long been known for his researches upon all 

 kinds of waves with which geography is concerned. In this book he gives 

 an account of his contributions to our knowledge of water wa\"es. The 

 volume is divided into three parts. The first deals with the size and speed 

 of ocean waves, and their relation to the strength of the wind which pro- 

 duces them. In the second part an account is given of the action of the 

 waves to form shingle beaches, and, in conjunction with the tides, to 

 transport shingle and sand from place to place along the shore. This part 

 of the book is important in connection with the subject of coast ero.sion. 

 The third part is chiefly devoted to progressive waves in rivers. The 

 origin and nature of the Severn Bore, on which the author has tlirown 

 fresh light, is dealt with in detail ; and niany remarkable obser\ations 

 are recorded of the progressive waves of the Niagara Rapids, of the ten- 

 dency of shallow streams to flow in gushes, and of other curious phenomena 

 of intermittence which can be detected in cataracts and waterfalls. The 

 work is profusely illustrated by the author's photographs, obtained in many 

 parts of the world. We are glad to be able to recommend the \olume 



Naturalist, 



