SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



271 



written, and, with the aid of the figures, forms an 

 excellent first aid to the identification of material 

 which is literally always at our feet. Having thus 

 gained our first knowledge, we can go to more 

 scientific works for what this one lacks ; but few 

 masters will be found more pleasantly chatty while 

 giving us lessons than Mr. Hutchinson. 



The International Naturalists' Directory, 1896. 42 

 pp. 8vo. (London : Swann and Co. and Elliot 

 Stock.) Price 6d. 



This little book will be invaluable to our readers 

 as a handy address book for rapid reference. It is 

 No. 2 only, and therefore, as yet, more or less 

 incomplete, 

 from several 

 points of view. 

 The first page 

 we open con- 

 tains the list 

 of " Preparers 

 of Microsco- 

 pical Materials 

 and Objects." 

 It includes one 

 who is no longer 

 in business, and 

 omits several 

 of the leading 

 workers. We 

 also miss many 

 valued corres- 

 pondents from 

 the Directory, 

 whom we are 

 thankful to be- 

 lieve are alive 

 and well. With 

 regard to its 

 being interna- 

 tional, we think 

 that word had 

 better be 

 omitted from 

 the title. The 

 system of de- 

 fining the 

 branches of 

 study affected 

 by the persons 

 whose names 

 are given is 

 more or less 

 arbitrary, and 

 apparently in- 

 ventive ; for in- 

 stance, one of 

 our leading en- 

 tomologists 

 appears only as 

 an ornitholo- 

 gist, which he professeth not. This differentiation 

 would be better left out of future editions, unless 

 made more correct. The directory of Scientific 

 Societies, which fills another important work of 

 several hundred pages, is here summed up in about 

 two pages. We consider the list of Natural 

 Science publications far from complete. Still 

 there is plenty of information for sixpence, if we 

 do not need the rest. 



Guide to the British Mycetozoa exhibited in the 

 Department of Botany, British Museum (Natural 

 History.) By Arthur Lister, F.L.S. 42 pp., 

 8vo, illustrated by 44 figures. (London : Printed 



Scolopendriom vulgare. Artificial var. Feodorovna. Half natural size. 

 (From " Fern Growing," by E. T. Lowe, F.R.S.) 



by order of the Trustees, and sold at the Museum. 

 Price id. 



In Volume I. of the New Series of Science- 

 Gossip, at page 32, we noticed an admirable guide- 

 book to the British fungi, though nominally to 

 " Sowerby's Models of British Fungi." This work 

 forms a companion guide to these allied organisms, 

 which hover on the borderland between the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms. Although only termed 

 a guide-book, sold at less than ordinary guide- 

 book price, this is really a valuable illustrated 

 introduction to a little-worked group by an au- 

 thority upon its scientific investigation. In Britain 



we have about 

 120 known 

 species of My- 

 cetozoa. They 

 are to be found 

 on old and de- 

 caying stumps, 

 or on fallen 

 branches, in 

 moist woods 

 and shaded gar- 

 den s, and 

 among damp, 

 dead leaves. No 

 bigger than a 

 grain of mus- 

 tard-seed, many 

 are magnificent 

 in brilliance of 

 colour and deli- 

 cacy of form. 

 The Museum 

 collection is 

 practically the 

 Author's col- 

 lection, for he 

 presented to the 

 Trustees 832 

 mounted slides 

 of British spe- 

 cies, which are 

 now happily 

 available for 

 references for 

 students at 

 large. Added 

 to these are 

 coloured draw- 

 ings made by 

 the author ' s 

 daughter, Miss 

 Gulielma Lis- 

 ter, with a dili- 

 gence and 

 accuracy which 

 is celebrated. 

 In this guide 

 every British species known at the time of 

 publication is included in four orders and thirty- 

 six genera. The little drawings in the margins 

 of the pages are excellent, and by their aid the 

 study is much simplified. Such a work as this 

 is of the highest educational value on account 

 of its accessibility, and will certainly lead to many 

 additional systematic workers in this branch of 

 cryptogamic botany. These Guides can only be 

 obtained from the Museum, and written com- 

 munications for them should be addressed to the 

 Director, British Museum (Natural History), Crom- 

 well Road, London, S.W. 



