42 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the author, and with this we have nothing to do, for we are here 

 concerned with eggs and not systems ; in fact, criticism should be 

 a matter between oologists and the work of the lithographers. 

 Whether this is much required seems almost answered in the 

 negative by an examination of the plates, which, belonging to an 

 English work, we rejoice to see were done in England. 



The descriptive notes are full and to the point. The geo- 

 graphical area over which the bird is at various times to be found, 

 the place and time of nidification, the structure of the nest, and the 

 shape, size, and colour of the eggs, are alike — where possible — 

 given. A full enumeration of species is contributed, including 

 the Great Auk (Alca impennis), two particular eggs of which 

 belonging to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, are 

 now figured for the first time. To conclude a necessarily brief 

 notice, we may surely say that we now possess the book on 

 British Birds' Eggs. 



The many surviving friends of Henry Seebohm will appreciate 

 the striking portrait given as frontispiece, while in writing the 

 personal memoir Dr. Sharpe has escaped both the Charybdis of 

 panegyric and the Scylla of criticism. 



By the Deep Sea : a Popular Introduction to the Wild Life of the 

 British Shores. By Edward Step, F.L.S. Jarrold & Sons. 

 1896. 

 In perusing this book we are reminded of a long ago, when 

 Wood's ' Common Objects of the Seashore ' was a well-thumbed 

 companion of our early days, replaced subsequently by Gosse's 

 1 Naturalist's Rambles on the Devonshire Coast.' It sometimes 

 seems that this branch of Zoology is not so popular as it was 

 once ; we more seldom see the private marine aquarium, less often 

 meet with the shore collector. We are all aware of the great 

 advance in scientific Zoology made by competent observers at 

 Marine Stations, and may at once cite Plymouth ; but our 

 remarks are only intended to apply to the readers for whom the 

 book is written. " In the present volume it is the author's desire 

 to act as a friendly go-between, introducing the unscientific sea- 

 side visitor to a large number of the wonderful and interesting 

 creatures of the rocks, the sands, and the shingle beach." As 



