3° 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Catalogue of Eastern and Australian. Lepidoptera 

 Heterocera, by Col. C. Swinhoe (Oxford : Clarendon 

 Press). The first part of this fine work, which 

 includes all the synonyms and a few localities, has 

 just been printed by H. Hart at the Oxford 

 University Press. It does Colonel Swinhoe great 

 credit, and brings out in the clearest possible way 

 the trouble and pains he has taken in compiling and 

 drawing up such a splendid book. The text is clear 

 and concise, and the plates leave nothing to be 

 desired. The initial part of the work, which is all 

 that has been as yet published, embracing only the 

 Sphinges and Bombyces, numbers some twelve 

 hundred and forty-eight species, together with a 

 hundred and forty-two figures in eight plates. To 

 many of the less known species descriptions are 

 affixed. It is a book that has for some time been 

 much needed by lepidopterists interested in eastern 

 entomology, as former works on the same subject 

 have been liable to inaccuracy and incongruity. We 

 strongly recommend it to all entomologists inter- 

 ested in the subject. The "Catalogue " is devoted 

 to a description of the collections in the Oxford 

 University Museum. 



The History of Creation, by Prof. Ernest Haeckel 

 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., 2 vols.). 

 "We had the pleasure to notice the first English 

 translation of this remarkable work when it appeared 

 in 1876. Since then, enormous strides have been 

 made in evolutionistic philosophy, to say nothing of 

 the vast treasury of new facts and discoveries which 

 have accumulated in the interim. A new edition was 

 much needed, and the value of the present re-issue 

 will be understood by the fact that the translation 

 has been made under the revision of Prof. Ray 

 Lankester, who also contributes a short preface. 

 Readers of the first English edition will find that the 

 author has much modified some of his views and 

 conclusions. There is also much new matter intro- 

 duced, rendered necessary by recent advances in 

 biological knowledge. The present work now in- 

 cludes all the views and theories of the neo-La- 

 marckian and neo-Darwinian schools of thought, so 

 that (in the first volume particularly) the entire 

 subject is brought up to date. Since Prof. Haeckel's 

 wont was first translated, the vast amount of new 

 materials accumulated during the voyage of the 

 Challenger have been sorted out and worked up. 

 They are all, of course, duly and carefully dealt with. 

 In Germany Prof. Haeckel's two-volumed work has 

 already passed through eight editions. The present 

 translation is admirably presented to the British 

 public from a literary point of view. It is eminently 

 clear and readable, free from verbosity, (a fault in 

 translations from the German), and as far as possible 

 untechnical. It is altogether a grand work, and one 

 that every earnest student of natural science will 

 peruse with profitable delight. The numerous illus- 

 trations are all unusually good ; and the type and 



paper pleasureable to look at, and comforting to the 

 eyes. Every scientific society library in the three 

 kingdoms should give Prof. Haeckel's work an 

 honourable place on their shelves. 



An Introduction to the Study of Botany, by Dr. 

 Arthur Dendy, and A. H. S. Lucas (Melbourne : 

 Melville, Muller & Co., and London: 12 Ludgate 

 Square). Of the issuing of botanical manuals there 

 is no end ; but a peculiar importance is attached to 

 the present volume. It is a contribution from well- 

 known Australian botanists to the science. It is 

 appropriately dedicated by them to the veteran 

 botanist, Sir F. Von Mueller. It is evidently in- 

 tended for Australian students, for both the authors 

 are professors in the University of Melbourne, and 

 there is a special chapter (which will be welcome to 

 students in England and America) on some Aus- 

 tralian natural orders of plants. The work is 

 thorough and scholarly, and it does much credit to 

 authors and publishers alike. We cordially recom- 

 mend it to all our botanical readers. 



B?-itish Fungus- Flora, by George Massee (London : 

 Geo. Bell & Sons), in three vols. The present is the 

 first volume on this increasingly important depart- 

 ment of botany. The indefatigable author seems to 

 sleep with his pen in his hands, judging by the 

 amount of good work he turns out. Mr. Massee has 

 attained the highest distinction as a fungologist, and 

 has succeeded Dr. M. C. Cooke, at Kew. Dr. 

 Cooke's celebrated " Handbook of British Fungi " 

 was published twenty-one years ago, since which 

 time, many new species have been added to the then 

 vast list. The present volume deals only with the 

 Basidiomycetes, which number in Cooke's work, no 

 fewer than 1980 species. Mr. Massee's book is a 

 most important contribution to this department of 

 botany, and contains a full and carefully compiled 

 index. The illustrations, although not numerous, 

 and chiefly relating to generic characters, are 'all 

 evidently from the author's well-known pencil. 



The Microscope, its Construction and Management, 

 etc., by Dr. Henri Van Heurck. English edition, 

 re-edited and augmented by the author, from the 

 fourth French edition, and translated by Wynne E. 

 Baxter, (London : Crosby Lockwood & Son). This 

 magnificently got-up work is worthy of a place beside 

 the most elaborate and costly of modern microscopes, 

 many of which cost as much as a yacht. It is a 

 well-known work in the microscopical world, for the 

 writer has not only been long before the scientific 

 public as an eminent structural botanist, Director of 

 the Antwerp Botanical Gardens, etc., but also as 

 president of one of the chief microscopical societies in 

 the world — that of Belgium. The work is illustrated 

 with three beautiful plates, and upwards of 250 

 superb woodcuts. It is impossible to mention any- 

 thing relating to the microscope, from a three-guinea 

 "student " to a five-hundred-guinea instrument, which 

 is not dealt with in Dr. Heurck's splendid mono- 



