Botany and Zoology. 193 



4. Ticks : a Monograph of the Ixodoidea ; by George H. F. 

 Nuttall, Cecil Warbueton, W. F. Cooper, and L. E. Robinson. 

 Part I, Argasidse. Pp. x + 104, with a bibliography of 35 addi- 

 tional pages. Cambridge, 1908 (University Press). — The discov- 

 ery that ticks play a most important part in the transmission of 

 certain diseases of man and domestic animals, has led to a renewed 

 interest in this group of parasites. The present work will contain, 

 when completed, a description of all known species of the group, 

 with a discussion of their structure, life history, and economic 

 importance. References are made to all the important literature 

 on the subject, the bibliography being printed on one side of 

 thin paper, so that the titles can be cut out, if desired, and 

 gummed on index cards. The work is well illustrated by half- 

 tone plates and numerous text figures. w. r. c. 



5. Animal Romances ; by Graham Renshaw. Pp. 206. 

 London, 1908 (Sherratt & Hughes). — A series of vivid word 

 pictures of animal scenes in various portions of the world. A 

 Caucasian autumn scene with its background of mountain forest, 

 into which the characteristic birds, mammals, and other animals 

 are projected with kaleidoscopic effect, is followed by a glimpse 

 of the Malay jungle at midnight ; while the latter picture grad- 

 ually dissolves into the noon-day glitter, to be in turn lost in the 

 dusk of evening; a continuous procession of living creatures 

 passes before the eye, each one acting its part in the full seclu- 

 sion of its native haunts. Other chapters reveal the life of the 

 African wilderness, the Antarctic seas, the Andean mountains, 

 the Australian bush, the Pacific coral reef and other regions of 

 the globe. Most of these scenes apparently have been drawn 

 directly from the personal impressions of the writer, and portray 

 vividly and accurately the living creature in its natural activities 

 and customary environment. The illustrations are all taken from 

 photographs by the author. w. r. c. 



6. Essays on Evolution, 1889-1907 ; by Edward Bagnall 

 Poulton. Pp. xlviii -f- 479. Oxford, 1908 (Clarendon Press).- — 

 This volume consists mainly of ten essays on the subject of 

 evolution, delivered as addresses on various occasions since the 

 year 1889. The text of the original essay has been altered 

 whenever necessary to represent the views of the author at the 

 present time, and the last and longest essay on " The Place of 

 Mimicry in a Scheme of Defensive Coloration" has been entirely 

 rewritten and emphasis laid on the advance in the knowledge of 

 the subject in recent years. The new discoveries supporting the 

 doctrines of Mendelism and of Mutation are discussed in an 

 introductory chapter, and with some of the expounders of these 

 doctrines the author has little patience, because of their qiiite 

 unnecessary depreciation of other subjects and other workers. 

 On the whole, the book forms a most interesting and important 

 exposition of some of the most vital topics of Darwinian evolu- 

 tion by a well known authority on the subject. w. r. c. 



