Reviews and Book Notices. 315 



Digest, however, the first volume of which has just been issued, 

 the evidence has been made most readily accessible by the 

 rearrangement and classification of the matter under separate 

 heads, and by the conversion of the interrogative into a narrative 

 form. The subjects covered by the first report of the Commission 

 were suppremented in certain portions of the evidence given in 

 the second and third reports. These have been inserted in the 

 present volume in order to make it complete so far as the sub- 

 jects treated are concerned. To insure accuracy the summaries 

 printed in the Digest have been submitted to the witnesses, who 

 have not only revised, but, where necessary, have amplified their 

 evidence and illustrated it by diagrams specially drawn for this 

 work. The general questions dealt with are ' The Working of 

 Thin Seams,' ' Limit of Depth in Mining,' ' Waste in Working,' 

 and 'Coal Cutting by ^lachinery.' It is unfortunate that the 

 Reports of the Geological Sub-Committee were too late for 

 inclusion in the volume, but they will probably appear in a 

 future issue. The work throughout bears evidence of most 

 careful editing", it is printed in clear type on excellent paper, and 

 altogether is a creditable production. As a frontispiece there is 

 a plate containing photographs of the various members of the 

 Rovai Commission. 



A double number of ' Bird Notes and News,' the org-an of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds (3, Hanover Square, W.) appears for 

 July, having- special reference to the International Ornitholog-ical Cong-ress. 

 Its contents include a four-pag-e supplement dealing- with existing; Bird 

 Protection Leg-islation throughout the British Empire, and also an article 

 on ' International Bird Protection,' pointing- out the necessity for inter- 

 national ag-reement for the preservation, more particularly, of rare birds, 

 plumag-e birds, and birds of passag-e. 



The ' Annual Report and Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field 

 Club ' for 1904-5 contains an excellent portrait of the late Thos. W'm. 

 Daltrv, M.A. , F.L.S., 'F.E.S., a native of Hull. The Report also contains 

 a catalog-ue of ' The Daltry Library,' founded in his memory in 1904. There 

 a,re nunierous papers and abstracts in the report likely to interest our 

 readers, viz., ' Coleoptera occurring- in North Staffordshire'; 'Notes on 

 British Poisonous Plants ' ; ' Some Abdominal Ribs of Hyperodapedon^ a 

 Saurian, from the Keuper Sandstone at Hollington ' ; ' Fossil Fern from 

 Butterton ' ; 'Additional Notes on a Section of Strata at Weston Sprink,' etc. 



The ' Proceedings of the Manchester Field Club for 1900-1901 ' have 

 recently been issued. The volume is a fairly substantial production and 

 contains some most interesting- information. Parti-cular mention should be 

 made of the admirably illustrated paper entitled ' Protecti\ e Resemblance 

 in the Insecta,' by Mr. Mark L. Sykes. Of local value is the notice (with 

 photo) of David Dyson, a former naturalist and a native of Oldham. Too 

 much space, in proportion to the rest, appears to be devoted to g-eneral 

 accounts of meetings and field excursions. We would sug-gest that these 

 be considerably condensed in future, in order that this admirable publication 

 may be brought more up-to-date. We should also like to see a greater 

 proportion of papers relating- to the natural history of the Manchester district. 



190:5 October 2. 



