911 



REVIEWS. 

 " A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA ". 



(H, R & G. Withcrby, 326, High Holborn, London. Price ]8-\) 



We cannot let pass without comment a remark Captain Kingston makes in 

 Ixis preface to " A NaturaUst in Himalaya ." He says " I cannot expect that 

 my record is likely to interest any but those who have a special taste for 

 Natural History and have bestowed some httle observation on it." Captain 

 Kingston is very modest. We are of opinion that his publication will fascinate 

 the veriest tyro and the most reputed field-naturalist on our membership roll. 



Throughout its 300 pages the former will hardly find a paragraph he cannot 

 delight in or readily understand, whilst the latter will be the first to pay tri- 

 bute to the work of one who has gone to Nature for his facts, and has built his 

 theories and h^^potheses on the sohd foundation of personal and prolonged 

 observation. 



Lea^ang the preface we turn to the book itself. Chapter I is in the nature 

 of a prologue and introduces us to the scene of the author's labours^the Hazara 

 country. But the creatures both big and small, with whose habits and instincts 

 we become intimate in subsequent chapters, are by no means confined to that 

 narrow strip of British territory which borders Western Kashmir. Nearly 

 all are typical of the lower slopes of the Western Himalayas generally and a 

 large number are resident in the plains. 



The author's work is therefore wide in its application. Half the book is 

 concerned with ants and spiders. There is ' Messor barbarus ,' the Harvester, 

 who is a vegetarian, ' Myrmecocystiis setipes ' the carnivorous ant who delights 

 in grasshoppers and beetles, and ' Phidole indica,' the communicating ant 

 who can circulate information amongst his formicary with the rapidity of 

 a bazaar rumour. 



But perhaps the most alluring chapters in Captain Kingston's book are those 

 he devotes to spiders. We do not remember to have read elsewhere a more 

 lucid description of the manner in which the geometrical spider weaves his web, 

 w^hilst the experiments conducted to support the author's conclusions are of 

 absorbing interest. 



In this portion of the book in particular, we are struck with the subtle use 

 the author makes of the important weapon of contrast. We constantly' find 

 ourselves marvelling at the wonderful instinct, skill, and organisation displayed 

 by these humble creatures. 



Then the scene changes. 



A few pertinent observations and exi^eriments follow, and along with the 

 author " we laugh at their folly and pain," their crass stupidity, their utter 

 lack of indi\adual intelligence. 



The remaining half of the book treats of a diversity of creatures— water - 

 boatmen, bumble-bees, butterflies, moths, cicadas, glow-worms, termites, 

 bulbuls, fly-catchers, sun-birds, flj-ing-squirrels and Himalayan monkej^s, etc. 

 All are dealt Avith in a happy vein and with the keen glance of an ardent field- 

 naturahst. 



In the last chapter of all we have a geological sketch which gives us a bird's- 

 eve gUmpse of Hazara in the past. 



The book is judiciously illustrated wath a number of excellent photographs 

 and illustrations, and we warmly commend it to our readers. It is not only 

 the work of a talented and accurate observer of animal life, but of one who nas 

 the power of communicating his observations with charm, simplicity, and literary 

 merit. These two gifts are not always combined. 



