234 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Naturalist on the Thames. By C. J. Cornish, F.Z.S. 

 Seeley & Co., Limited. 



The love of the Thames is scarcely confined to Londoners ; 

 it is always the popular river to Englishmen. Its upper waters 

 are best known to the angler and the boating man ; down its 

 course to the sea has travelled from time to time the enterprise 

 of Great Britain. There is an opportunity for a journal to be 

 devoted solely to this river, while a Thames Natural History 

 Society only requires formation for its success to be assured. 

 We therefore gladly welcome Mr. Cornish's contribution to this 

 delightful theme. 



Some of the chapters in this book will be familiar to readers 

 of the ' Spectator ' and the ' Badminton Magazine,' and some 

 travel a little beyond the strict scope of natural history; but 

 Mr. Cornish is seldom dull, and always instructive. A river 

 can be studied like a vast aquarium, by those who will use their 

 eyes with persistent method, and the author has given some 

 instances of how this may be done in his chapter on the " Insects 

 of the Thames." Very suggestive, too, is the one devoted to the 

 " Antiquity of River Plants," and their animal frequenters. 

 " The creatures which lived on these prehistoric plants live on 

 them now, and in exactly the same parts of the stream. The 

 same shells lie next the banks in the shallows as lie next the 

 bank of the prehistoric river of two million years ago whose 

 bed is cut through at Hordwell Cliffs on the Solent." 



We are glad to find that the efforts for animal preservation 

 made by the Thames Conservancy and various County Councils 

 have been followed with excellent results. The Herons from Rich- 

 mond Park have extended their usual nightly fishing-ground, which 

 formerly ended at Kew Bridge, four miles further down the river, 

 almost to Hammersmith Bridge, and have even been heard at 

 Chelsea. Since the middle of June, 1890, large shoals of Dace, 



