NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



such it might be difficult to place a better book in the hands 

 of a young enquiring sea-side naturalist. The illustrations are 

 numerous and helpful. 



The Collectors Manual of British Land and Freshwater Shells. 

 By Lionel Ernest Adams, B.A. Second edition. Taylor 

 Bros., Leeds. 1896. 



A second edition of this well-known Manual will be un- 

 doubtedly welcomed by those to whom it is addressed. " The 

 object of this little Manual is to enable the novice to collect, 

 identify, and arrange systematically the various shells — both land 

 and freshwater — which abound in almost every part of these 

 islands." 



Apart from this modest programme there are some features 

 of general interest to the biologist. Thus Dr. Scharff, in his 

 ' Slugs of Ireland,' is inclined to the opinion that the colours of 

 slugs in that island are at all ages, as a rule, protective. Mr. 

 Adams, however, considers that " the results of his own collecting 

 tend to show that climate may be a factor in the matter." Dealing 

 with inland localities, he finds that he has " taken more brilliant 

 forms, and those more abundantly, in the South of England (where 

 the climate is warmer) than in the north." His experience has 

 been the same with coast localities. "All along the south coasts 

 of England and Wales, Cardigan Bay, and the west coast of the 

 Isle of Man and north coast of Ireland (all of which are noted for 

 a mild climate), I have taken coloured forms abundantly ; while on 

 the coasts of Lancashire and North Wales and the east coast of 

 England from the Thames to the Tees (where the climate is more 

 bracing), I have no personal records for anything but the type." 



This little book is not only calculated to increase the ardour 

 of the young collector, but, what is more, make him a student of 

 Conchology. Such primers did not exist when we were young, 

 and it would seem — as we hope is the fact — that a taste for 

 Natural History is increasing with the reading public. The lines 

 of the youthful zoologist of to-day are indeed made pleasant. 



