July 20, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



65 



take your holiday here, for you may bring back with you 

 specimens wherewith to beguile many a long winter's 

 evening with your favourite pursuit. For butterflies, 

 birds, and plants, this is a perfect El Dorado." 



The book is rich in scraps of archaeology, architecture 

 and folklore, notes on the architecture prevailing in the 

 region, and specimens of the curious local dialect. That he 

 has a keen eye for the picturesque and an appreciation at 

 onceof thebeautiful and the humorous,the reader will soon 

 recognise. It is painful, however, to find that Mr. Suf- 

 fling has to put in his protest against the practice of 

 setting up empty bottles in the fields as " cockshies,"and 

 leaving the broken glass scattered about, to the danger 

 of cattle and horses. 



The author mentions the Norfolk coasts as localities 

 where the palaeontologist sometimes finds treasures, 

 especially after a strong north-westerly gale. 



Due mention is made of the museum at Norwich, 

 eminently rich in raptorial birds and in fossil bones. 

 Incidentally the author speaks of the " Madder Market." 

 This makes us wish that he, as a native of Norfolk and 

 evidently well acquainted with the history and traditions 

 of his native county, had told us whether madder was 

 formerly cultivated on an industrial scale in the eastern 

 counties. 



The changes which the River Yare has undergone since 

 the days of King Canute are duly chronicled. It seems 

 strange, though established beyond doubt, that Norwich 

 was once a fishing-town. But other East Anglian rivers 

 have fared like the Yare. It is said that all the stone for 

 building the Abbey of St. Edmund's was brought by sea 

 from Caen, and conveyed up the Orwell and the Gipping, 

 past Stowmarket, and to within a few miles of its desti- 

 nation. Now the tide does not ascend beyond Ipswich. 



The account of the kingfisher — a bird doomed, we 

 fear, to early extirpation — is open to misunderstanding. 

 The author doubtless knows that not merely one species 

 of this bird, but many are found in tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries, though none surpass the native king- 

 fisher in beauty. 



The author is perfectly correct in affirming that herons 

 are capable of swimming and diving, and we should 

 scarcely have thought that the contrary opinion was 

 still held by any naturalist. Waterton maintains that 

 these dignified birds neither swim nor dive, but his friend 

 and biographer, Norman Moore, has seen them doing 

 both in the lake at Walton Hall. 



We find here a notice of some curious superstitions. The 

 writer, however, does not mention two of the most curious 

 which exist in Suffolk, and doubtless extend into the sister 

 county. One of these is the notion that stones — paving- 

 stones, mile-stones, boulders, etc. — grow if left lying on 

 the ground. The other is the faith in the practice of 

 hoplochrysm. If a labourer cuts himself with sickle, bill- 

 hook, or knife, he simply binds up the wound and applies 

 some medicament to the tool or implement which has 

 caused the injury. This is a venerable superstition, and 

 was in former ages recommended by Helmont and prac- 

 tised by the most eminent surgeons. That such delu- 

 sions will sooner or later fade away is very probable, but 

 it is to be feared that their place in the popular brain 

 may be taken by follies as illogical and more dangerous. 

 Mr. Suffling's book may be safely adopted as a guide by 

 pleasure-seekers bound for the " Broads," and we 

 believe that in seeking a place for their holiday excursions 

 they might go further and fare much worse. We must 

 not overlook one pleasant feature of the work before us — 



the author is not troubled with "views," or, if he is, he 

 does not feel bound to obtrude them upon his readers. 



Hcnslow's Botany for Beginners. A short course of 



elementary instruction in practical botany for junior 



classes and children. By the Rev. Professor G. 



Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. Fourth edition. 



London : E. Stanford. 



We are not in the least surprised to find that a fourth 



edition of this excellent little manual has been required. 



In our judgment it is a model of a scientific treatise for 



beginners. The course of instruction from the very first 



is practical, not wordy, but thingy, if we may so call it. 



If this book is used according to the principles laid down 



in the preface, the 'pupil will be gradually trained to 



observe closely and correctly. This, we submit, much 



more than the mere facts recognised, is the true point to 



be aimed at in teaching any of the natural and physical 



sciences. 



The author takes up in succession a number of com- 

 mon British wild plants — easily procurable in most 

 country places — and by their means expounds the leading 

 principles of botany. By the time a boy or girl often to 

 twelve years of age has worked through this series, he 

 or she, except of unusually narrow capacity, will have 

 " eyes " in place of the " no eyes," now so alarmingly 

 common. At the same time the pupil obtains a living, 

 a hand-to-hand familiarity with the technical language of 

 botany, and can henceforth read botanical works with 

 understanding and profit. 



We notice with pleasure that the author gives instances 

 of fruitful hybrids, thus fortifying the pupil against one 

 of the favourite fallacies of the opponents of evolution. 



A Catalogue of the Moths of India. Compiled by E. C. 

 Cotes, First Assistant to the Superintendent, Indian 

 Museum, and Colonel C. Swinhoe, F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 F.Z.S., etc. Part II. Bombyces. Calcutta : Trustees 

 of the Indian Museum. 



This division of the author's work comprises no fewer 

 than 1,623 species, including, of course, the important 

 silk-yielding genera Boinbyx, Attacus, Saturnia, and 

 Anthercea. 



The Bombyces are here divided into the families Aeger- 

 iidte, Zygcenidce, Agaristidw, Cha/cosiidce, Nyctcmerida?, 

 Lithosiidw, Arctiida, Liparidw, Bombycidce, Notodon/idce, 

 Drepamdidce, Limacodida, Lasiocampida, Phalerida, Sa 

 urnidce, Cossidcs, and Hepialidce. 



As in Part I. of the " Catalogue," the synonymy of 

 each species, if needful, is given, and there is reference 

 to collections where the type is to be seen. 



The Bombyces, owing to their comparatively feeble 

 powers of flight, show a much less tendency to become 

 cosmopolitan than do the Sphinges. Families and genera 

 are often common to India and to Europe, but we do not 

 recognise a single species except it has been artificially 

 acclimatised. Not a few of the species here described 

 were ranked by Linnaeus, Cramer, etc., among the 

 Sphinges. 



■ — ♦^t^^^fif-* — 



Archaeological Discovery at Chester. — A curious 

 line of massive blocks of sandstone have been recently 

 unearthed in Foregate -street, extending for nearly one 

 hundred yards in a line with the present street, and four 

 feet in depth. No definite conclusion has been arrived 

 ^ at respecting the stones or their age. 



