SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 68 



such a praiseworthy undertaking The Orchidacece attract 

 attention at once by their beauty and curious mimicry of 

 various members of the animal kingdom. There are few of 

 our Folkestone readers who will not at once call to mind the 

 Bee Orchis which, may be gathered in the neighbourhood by 

 hundreds. Among others chronicled we may note Epipadis 

 palustris, E. laiifolia, E. grandiflora (mentioned as having 

 occurred in the Warren, but hunted for lately in vain) Orchis 

 ustulata, O. viridis, O. fusca, Accras anthropophora, Ophrys 

 fucifera, ^c, S^c. Of these particularly we shall be glad to 

 hear, and still more pleased to have specimens for identifica- 

 tion. The date and locality should be affixed in every case. 



SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



We hope from time to time, to be able to call the attention 

 of our readers to works likely to interest them, or to be in 

 any way useful to them in the branch of study to which they 

 are devoted. Messrs. Low and Marston, some time ago 

 issued " The Life and Adventures of fohn fames Atcduhon, 

 edited, from materials supplied by his widow, by Robert Buchanan." 

 There are few, who do not take an interest in Biography, and 

 certainly to a naturalist, the life of one addicted to kindred 

 pursuits, is full of absorbing attraction. The name of 

 Audubon is well known, principally in connection with his 

 magnificent work on the Birds of America. In order to 

 make this collection what it ought to be, he travelled thou- 

 sands of miles from first to last, that he might see the 

 feathered races in their native haunts, and sketch them from 

 Nature. No one certainly, ever threw himself heart and soul 

 into his work more successfully than Audubon : possessing 

 an ardent love of Nature, and imbued with that courage and 

 endurance, which we now connect so much with such names 

 as Livingstone, Baker, Speke, and Grant, he never allowed 

 any obstacles to stand in his way. Downhearted he was at 

 times, as was but natural ; but his elasticity of spirits soon 

 overcame this, and he laughed at disappointments when they 

 were gone. He describes his wanderings with a charming 

 simplicity and freshness ; they are full of fact and anecdote, • 



