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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Cambridge Natural History. Vol. IV. By Geoffrey 

 Smith, M.A. ; Henry Woods, M.A. ; A. E. Shipley, M.A., 

 F.R.S. ; Cecil Warburton, M.A. ; and Prof. D'Arcy W. 

 Thompson, C.B., M.A., &c. Macmillan & Co., Limited. 



By the issue of the present volume a notable publication has 

 been completed, and the Editors, Dr. Harmer and Mr. Shipley, 

 are to be congratulated on the successful termination of sixteen 

 years' labour in promoting the knowledge of authoritative 

 zoology, for, though " Natural History " is the title, animal life 

 is the subject. The ten volumes which constitute and complete 

 this series will be studied by students, consulted by specialists 

 for information outside their more limited survey, and afford a 

 referential refuge for the something more than general reader. 



The subject of Crustacea, originally undertaken by the late 

 Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, and of which we read the " chapter on 

 the Branchiopoda is all he actually left ready for publication," 

 has been with that exception written by Mr. Geoffrey Smith, 

 and forms the first section of the volume. Mr. Henry Woods i 

 has written on the Trilobites and Eurypterida ; Mr. Shipley has 

 given an Introduction to Arachnida and King-crabs, and 

 described the Tardigrada and Pentastomida ; the Scorpions, 

 Spiders, Mites, Ticks, &c, are dealt with by Mr. Warburton; 

 and Prof. D'Arcy Thompson is the authority for the Pycno- 

 gonida. It will thus be seen that the volume is the work of 

 specialists, and if criticised it must be from the pens of 

 specialists. 



The present volume, like its predecessors, is a truly biological 

 publication, though not restricted to that particular study of 

 animal life ; many bionomic facts have been compiled, and the 

 references to the works and records of other naturalists are of no 

 inconsiderable assistance, especially to those who cannot be 

 specialists in all orders. One remark by the writer on Crustacea 

 (Paguridea) reflects the biological standpoint ; in his account of 

 the Robber-crab (Birgus latro) he states, and truly, that, dis- 

 regarding the legends attached to this creature, "the philosopher 



