358 
water between tide-marks; the water being 
retained in the pool by means of a wall of 
mud from four to six inches in height and 
with a diameter of about eighteen inches, this 
wall being constructed by the fishes. Outside 
the wall are a number of small holes, which 
may or may not lead into the central burrow 
and are employed as retreats on ordinary 
occasions. When, however, the fish are 
thoroughly alarmed they skip on to the wall, 
where they sit for a time before diving into 
the pool and seeking safe refuge in one of 
the large burrows, which always run in an 
oblique direction. According to native reports, 
the fishes collect the mud or clay of which 
the wall is built by diving to the bottom of 
the pool and bringing up a mouthful at a 
time. This statement is confirmed by the 
appearance of the wall itself, which is formed 
of pellets of clay differing in character from 
the surrounding surface mud, and of such a 
size and shape that they might perfectly well 
be casts of the mouth-cavity of the fish. 
7 
WE have received from Mr. George A. Morton, 
of Hdmburgh, a copy of Dr. 
Gerald Leighton’s new book, 
“The Life History of British 
Lizards,’ uniform with the same author’s 
“Life History of British Serpents ” published 
FEMALE OF THE COMMON LIZARD (Lacerta vivipara). 
Animal Life 
two years ago by Messrs. Blackwood. These 
two volumes are perhaps the best from a 
popular point of view, as they certainly are 
the most recent works on the reptiles of 
Great Britain. The book on lizards is written 
more especially for field naturalists, and 
although the introductory chapter deals with 
the distribution and so on of lizards generally, 
and another with their anatomy, the zoologist 
who wishes to probe more deeply and in 
greater detail into the scientific study of this 
sub-order must make for a less mmteresting 
work. But if Dr. Leighton’s book will not 
satisfy museum students, it will certainly 
appeal to a larger public than if it had left 
alone the life histories and characteristics of 
animals whose native home is the same as our 
own. Perhaps Dr. Leighton will next turn his 
attention to amphibians, and thus give us a 
trilogy on two orders of very interesting ani- 
mals. The illustration reproduced herewith is a 
good specimen of the large number which add 
an interest to an already interesting book, not 
the least merit of which is its moderate price, 5s. 
Dy 7 
Ir we except our own Mole (familiarity 
with which has made us in 
a great degree oblivious of its 
strangeness and peculiarity), 
one of the most remarkable of the numerous 
mammals which have 
taken to a subter- 
ranean mode of exist- 
ence, and have thus 
to a greater or less 
extent lost the use of 
their eyes, is the Great 
Mole-Rat (Spalax 
Great 
Mole=Rat. 
typhlus) of Hastern 
Kurope. Unlike the 
-mole, which, as we all 
know, is a member of 
the Insectivorous or 
insect-eating group, 
the mole-rat, as 1s 
well shown in our 
illustration, possesses 
a single pair of large 
chisel-like teeth in the 
front of the jaws, 
