NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 313 



species, but think a Kattlesnake) with a most formidable array of poison- 

 fangs. If I remember aright, this specimen has four fangs on one side of 

 the jaw, all growing from the same root, and two or three similar fangs 

 on the other side of the jaw. — Geo. E. Lodge (5, Verulam Buildings, 

 Gray '8 Inn). 



INSECTS. 



Tortrix viridana in the Midlands. — As in North Wales, so with 

 us, the above moth is exceedingly common this year, and the oak woods 

 have suffered terribly. The Rooks, Jackdaws, Starlings, and Sparrows 

 congregated in immense flocks to feed on the larvaB and pupse, and now 

 that the insects have emerged most birds seem to feed on them. The 

 insectivorous birds search the branches above, the finches the ground 

 beneath, and the Swallows and Martins constantly skim around the 

 trees — all helping to keep in check this little pest, as it has now become. — 

 J. Steele Elliott (Park Road, Sutton Coldfield). • 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS, 



Beast and Man in India : a popular sketch of Indian Animals in 

 their relations with the People. By John Lockwood 

 Kipling, CLE. London : Macmillan & Co. 



The general opinion of cultivated Europe as to the temper 

 of Orientals towards animals has been expressed by Mr. Lecky, 

 in a clause of the sentence with which he concludes a survey of 

 a growth of consideration for animals as an element of public 

 morals, in his ' History of European Morals.* He says : — " The 

 Muhammadans and the Brahma ns have in this sphere consider- 

 ably surpassed the Christians ." In the opinion of Mr. Kipling 

 there is enough truth in this statement to give interest to an 

 examination of it, and this furnishes the key-note to the views 

 expressed in the volume before us. 



Mr. Kipling has lived long enough in India, and used his 

 powers of observation well enough, to be trusted as a reliable 

 guide, and the insight which he gives into the daily life of the 

 natives in relation to animals may be regarded alike truthful and 

 picturesque. While maintaining that no precept of mercy has 

 protected animals in servitude in India, Mr. Kipling admits that 

 a more humane temper prevails with regard to free creatures there 

 than in the West. Village boys are not seen stoning frogs, or 



zoologist. — august, 1892. 2 B . 



