246 



and notes on this subject were originally prepared with the view of 

 encouraging in his children that love of natural history from which 

 he himself had derived so much happiness. A child can readily 

 understand the happy and clear exposition of the subject con- 

 tained in the pages of this most attractive book. And this is the 

 way natural history should be presented to children. It leads 

 them to take at once a lively interest in the doings of insects and 

 plants, and is worth far more than formal introductions to zoology, 

 just as one can learn more by watching the actions of a live bee or 

 the growth of a plant, than by the inspection of dried specimens. 



Children of maturer growth will be startled and set thinking by 

 some of the conclusions of Sprengel, Darwin, Hermann Miiller 

 and our author. For example, we are told that to bees and other 

 insects " we owe the beauty of our gardens, the sweetness of our 

 fields. To them flowers are indebted for their scent and colour ; 

 nay, for their very existence, in its present form. Not only have 

 the present shape and outlines, the brilliant colours, the sweet 

 set nt and the honey of flowers, been gradually developed through 

 the unconscious selection exercised by insects ; but the very ar- 

 rangement of the colours, the circular bands and radiating lines, 

 the form, size and position of the petals, the relative situations of 

 the stamens and pistil, are all arranged with reference to the visits 



which these visits are destined to effect." The facts tending to 

 substantiate these conclusions are presented by word and picture. 

 We are confident that books like these are destined to revolu- 

 tionize the study of biology in our schools. 



Elements of Magnetism and Electricity.* — This compact 

 little manual like the "Principles of Metal Mining," is an English 

 reprint. It is printed with the object of aiding students to pass 

 " in the first class in elementary stage of the government science- 

 examinations." It will be a useful reprint in this country. 



B OTANY, 



Geographical Distribution of North American Ferns.— 

 An interesting paper on this subject by Mr. J. H. Redfield ap- 

 pears in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. The last vol- 

 ume contains an excellent photograph of the late Prof. Torrey. 



