HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



203 



The author of this book was Master Mariner of the 

 Central African Mission on the great lake. This 

 book records his eleven years' experience. It was a 

 risky one, and could only have happened to a brave 

 and cool-headed man. It is a stirring account of an 

 enthusiastic traveller, who loved his work, and 

 thought no toil too great for the great cause to which 

 he was devoted. Captain Hore is evidently a keen 

 observer, as well as an energetic traveller, and his 

 book contains numerous references to the Ethnology, 

 Physical Geography, and Natural History of the 

 districts he seems to know so well. The literary 

 style of the volume is pleasant and graceful, and the 

 illustrations are good. 



Marine Shdls of South Africa, by G. B. Sowerby, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S. Whatever Mr. Sowerby has to say 

 concerning marine shells is bound to receive the 

 attention of naturalists. The present useful volume 

 is a catalogue of all the known species, with references 

 to figures in various works, descriptions of new 

 species, and figures of such as are new, little known, 

 or hitherto unfigured. There are five plates of shells, 

 comprising about ninety species, all of them drawn in 

 that neat and graceful style, for which the name of 

 Sowerby is famous. 



Tlu Study of Animal Life, by Arthur Thompson, 

 M.A., F.R.S.E. This volume is one of the series 

 issued with a view to aid the University Extension 

 movement throughout Great Britain. It is intended 

 by the author as a working manual for elementary 

 zoological students. It contains twenty chapters, 

 which range over a large field of biological specula- 

 tion and research, and each chapter has appended to 

 it a bibliography of the various books dealing with 

 the subjects discussed. The illustrations are numerous 

 and all of them good. The chapters are headed as 

 follows : — Part I. The Everyday Life of Animals. 

 Chapter I. The Wealth of Life. Chapter II. The 

 Web of Life. Chapter III. The Struggle of Life. 

 Chapter IV. Shifts for a Living. Chapter V. 

 Social Life of Animals. Chapter VI. The Domestic 

 Life of Animals. Chapter VII. The Industries of 

 Animals. Part II. The Powers of Life. Chapter 

 VIII. Vitality. Chapter IX. The Divided Labours 

 of the Body. Chapter X. Instinct. Part III. Chap- 

 ter XI. The Elements of Structure. Chapter XII. 

 The Life-History of Animals. Chapter XIII. The 

 Past History of Animals. Chapter XIV. The 

 Simplest Animals. Chapter XV. Backboneless Ani- 

 mals. Chapter XVI. Backboned Animals. Part IV. 

 The Evolution of Animal Life. Chapter XVII. The 

 Evidences of Evolution. Chapter XVIII. The Evo- 

 lution of Evolution Theories. Chapter XIX. The 

 Influence of Habits and Surroundings. Chapter 

 XX. Heredity. Appendix I. Animal Life, and 

 Ours. Appendix II. Some of the Best Books on 

 Animal Life. Mr. J. A. Thompson has done his 

 work in a masterly manner, and we cordially recom- 

 mend his works to students. 



The Naturalist in La Plata, by W. H. Hudson 

 (London: Chapman & Hall). The author of this 

 delightful volume is an old and highly welcome 

 correspondent of Science-Gossip, in whose past 

 volumes several articles from his pen, on South 

 American Natural History, have appeared. The fact 

 that the present work has passed into a second edition 

 within a few months from the issue of the first, shows 

 how it has caught on. The land of the Pampas is 

 one of the most individualised portions of the earth, 

 and Mr. Hudson is its naturalist. He describes what 

 he has seen with a literary vividness, which reminds 

 one of poor Richard Jeffries. " The Naturalist in 

 La Plata" will take its place in the rank 'of such 

 books as Charles Darwin's " Voyage of the ' Beagle,' ' 

 Wallace's "Malayan Archipelago," Bates' "Natural- 

 ists on the Amazons," and Thomas Belt's " Naturalist 

 in Nicaragua." We cordially recommend our readers 

 to lose no time in procuring Mr. Hudson's book. It 

 is well and clearly printed on good paper, and 

 strongly bound, as it deserves to be. The illustrations, 

 nearly thirtj' in number, are gems of their kind. 

 The following are the titles of the twenty-four chap- 

 ters, some of which, however, we must say are 

 scarcely good enough to describe the rich originality 

 of the author's literary style, and power of observa- 

 tion : — "The Desert Pampas;" "The Puma, or 

 Lion of America ; " "A Wave of Life ; " " Some 

 Curious Animal Weapons;" "Fear in Birds;" 

 "Parental and Early Instincts;" "The Mephitic 

 Skunk ; " " Mimicry and Warning Colours in Grass- 

 hoppers;" "Dragon-Fly Storms;" "Mosquitoes 

 and Parasite Problems;" "Humble Bees and other 

 Matters;" "A Noble Wasp;" "Nature's Night- 

 lights;" "Facts and Thoughts about Spiders;" 

 " The Death-Fuging Instinct ; " " Humming-Birds ; " 

 " The Crested Screamer ; " " The Woodhewer 

 Family;" "Music and Dancing in Nature;" 

 "Biography of the Vizcacha;" "The Dying 

 Huanaco ; " " The Strange Instincts of Cattle ; " 

 " Horse and Man ; " " Seen and Lost." 



A Mendip Valley, by Theodore Compton (London : 

 Edward Stanford). Many years ago a little volume 

 was published by the present author under the title of 

 " Winscombe Sketches." It reminded one of Miss 

 Mitford's village, so keen and sympathetic were its 

 sketches of country life. It is a singular fact, but 

 universally true, that the best literary describers and 

 word-painters of country life are naturalists. There 

 is a great deal in the " Winscombe Sketches," which 

 show that the author has sat at the feet of the Rev. 

 Mr. White of Selbourne. The present work is 

 practically an enlargement of its predecessor of 

 another name. It is just one of those books, the 

 reading of a chapter of which, by a jaded city man 

 who has not quite lost his literary and scientific tastes, 

 would act like an anodyne. There are upwards 

 of fifty delightful illustrations by Edward Theodore 

 Compton, of which no artist could speak too highly. 



