250 .Vo/i's (lud (\))niuc)ilx. 



antiquary that one would expect to find there. Still, there are 

 some, and the aid of these has been called in, in the preparation 

 of the Handbook. It is, as might be expected, largely devoted 

 to archaeology. Messrs. Auden, Platnauer, Hargrove, Willis, 

 Cooper, Benson, Solloway, Skaife, Miss Sellers, and the Revs. 

 Canon Watson and Purey-Cust, describe every aspect of the 

 archaeology and antiquities of the city. Naturally, much of the 

 information in these 250 pages is to be found elsewhere, but as 

 a summary it is useful, and will probably be much appreciated 

 by the visitors to York this week, for whom, we must not forget, 

 the book was primarily prepared. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY SECTION. 



Seeing that three-quarters of the book are occupied in the 

 way referred to, it is hardly to be expected that in the remainder 

 there will be much opportunit}' of describing to any serious extent 

 the various branches of geology, botany, zoology, etc., of York 

 and district. The result is that many of the chapters under 

 this section of the book are largely devoted to lists of species. 

 These lists, too, as might be anticipated, are for the most part 

 drawn from the various monographs issued by the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union. The chapter on ' Geology ' is written by 

 the Rev. W. Johnson, who is to be complimented on his success 

 in keeping his description within seven pages, notwithstanding 

 the fact that ' the geology of York is, in one sense, of the 

 simplest kind ! ' Dr. W. G. Smith follows with a ' General 

 Survey ' of the botanical features of the area, which has the 

 advantage of being exceedingly 'readable,' and can be appre- 

 ciated by one who may perhaps not know that Bcllis percnnis 

 is the daisy ! Under ' Phaneroganic Flora and Vascular crypto- 

 gams,' Mr. H. J. Wilkinson gives several pages of lists of plants 

 characteristic of different areas around York. No one could 

 have done this better, and it will be very useful for reference. 

 The Algai, Fungi, Hepaticie, Sphagnaceje, and Musci Veri, are 

 under the name of our contributor, Mr. W. Ingham, and Mr. 

 Oxley Grabham lists the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphi- 

 bians ; Mr. Riley Fortune gives a very complete account of the 

 fishes ; in three pages the Rev. W. C. Hey deals with the 

 Coleoptera, Mr. S. Walker, writes on ' Lepidoptera,' the Rev. 

 T. A. Brode gives a list of the Mollusca, and Mr. J. IC. Clarke 

 gives some useful ' Meteorological Notes.' These conclude the 

 volume, there being vmfortunatclv no index. 



Natiiralisl, 



