SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



241 



liis book. As a result, these same photographs in 

 almost every instance show the faults to which 

 the beginner is prone. The prints may be above 

 criticism, in so far as they are reproductions whose 

 outlines at least must be accepted as absolutely 

 accurate ; but we fear that this is all that can be 



the author would have served his aims better had 

 he been content with careful drawings on the 

 same scale of the various starches mentioned. He 

 would thus have been able to give the details of 

 the starch grains as they really appear under the 

 microscope, without necessarily departing from 



May 9. 



May 13. 



May 10. 



May 14. 



May 11. 



Mav 15. 



May 12. May 16. 



THE FIRST WEEK IN A BABY BLACKBIRD'S LIFE. 

 (From Ki'aiion'x " Our Bird Friends") 



said of them. It is also a pity the author should 

 mar a praiseworthy attempt to give a practical 

 summary of the leading microscopical characters 

 of the more important starches by the inclusion, 

 as illustrations, of his own earliest attempts in a 

 most difficult branch of photo-micrography. Our 

 own opinion is that under any circumstances 

 photography is not suitable for the purpose, and 



accuracy with regard to form. It is true these 

 details are rapidly lost when the starch grains are 

 mounted for any length of time ; but that only 

 shows the necessity of making the necessary 

 examination on freshly prepared mounts. There 

 is a good comparative table at the end of the book, 

 which we should have liked to see largely ex- 

 tended, and an excellent index. — F. S. S. 



