SC/ENCE-GOSSfP 



21 



NOTICES HV JOHN T. rAHRINOTON. 



T/ic Na/iiral History of Selhoriie. By Gilbert 

 White. Edited by Grant Ali.f.n, with numerous 

 illustrations by EnMUND H. New. io in. X 7] in. 

 (London and New York : John Lane, 1S99. ) is. 6d., 

 per part of 4S pp. , net. 



This issue of Gilbert White's classic, of the many 

 that have been published, most nearly approaches an 

 edition dc luxe. The publisher has spared no pains 

 or expense in producing a charmingl}- quaint old-style 

 book, quite in accordance with the period when 

 Gilbert White wrote his well-known letters and diary. 

 It is satisfactory to find, unlike some other editions. 



Lane, we give on this page an example in a .sketch of 

 "The Wakes," the house in which White .so long 

 resided and wrote so much. We can cordially 

 recommend this latest edition of White's Selborne to 

 our readers. 



The Flora of Chesiiii-e. Hy the late Lord he 

 Taui.ev. Edited by Spencer Moore, with Bio- 

 graphical Notice of the Author by SiR Mount.stuart 

 Grant Duei-. Ixiv. -f 399 pp. S in. x 5^ in., 

 with portrait of author and map of Cheshire. 

 (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, 

 Green and Co., 1S99.) los. 6d. net. 



The author of this Flora was better known to 

 botanists as John Byrne Leicester Warren, than by his 

 title of Lord De Tabley, which he was the third and 

 last to bear. After the author's death in 1895 his 

 sister. Lady Leighton, while going through her late 

 brother's papers, collected all the materials she could 

 find relating to the Cheshire Flora and placed them 

 in the hands of Mr. Spencer Moore, for arrangement. 

 Thus it is we have the work before us, which forms 

 an important contribution to the already numerous 

 county and other Floras of Britain. With regard to 



EH/y- 



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Zr/te WaAe^ 



From The Natural History 0/ SeU'ontc. Edited hy Grant Allen. 



the editor has not in his notes overshadowed the 

 original author. In fact, it is not improbable that a 

 little more evidence of the critical faculty, and a 

 sharper comparison between White's old style natural 

 history and modern knowledge, would have been an 

 advantage to the present readers. We have before us 

 a work to be coveted by every true lover of elegance 

 in books. Mr. New's illustrations are excellent 

 imitations of the woodcuts of last century, such as 

 those with which Bewick delighted our grandfathers. 

 Each letter commences with a picture of some bird, 

 or charming bit of scenery from the Selborne district. 

 The former are usually artistically treated, though 

 most may be identified by the least informed 

 ornithologist. Of the latter, by permission of Mr. 



arrangement and nomenclature, the former, with few 

 exceptions, follows the seventh edition of the London 

 Catalogue ; as generally does the nomenclature ; but 

 the classification of the vascular cryptogams and 

 Characeae is arranged in accordance with more 

 modern ideas. Following the scientific names are the 

 English, that have been selected strictly in view of 

 adopting the binominal s)stem, in which it is 

 attempted, as far as possible, to give a free translation 

 of the Latin equivalent. For instance, Atelientilla 

 vtdgaiis is called lady's-mantle alchemil. The result 

 is that we have rather a straining for uniformity to 

 obtain binomalism, the hyphen doing considerable 

 duty in the effort ; as, for example, in red water- 

 mint and large-flowered hemp-nettle. Occasionally 



