Revie7vs and Book Notices, 



soil conditions widely different from those of the limestone pavements and 

 chalk-downs where it is more frequently found. Yet here it should be 

 •considered that in North Germany it is considered a typical plant of the 

 heath moors ; and in our own Lake District of the Silurian grass heath or 

 Sphag'num bog". Most interesting; studies are sugfgfested in the part dealing' 

 with the distribution as affected by the altitude. The descent to sea level 



• of limestone plants, limited at a much higher level in the neighbouring 

 Yorkshire, and the general uncei'tainty of the grouping of the species into 

 altitudinal groups would seem to indicate that single factors alone should 

 not be considered as conditioning the existence in a particular station of a 

 :j3lant. but rather that complex and varying play of a group of factors of 

 -which the plant associations, rather than physical and chemical statistics, 

 are the most accurate measure. Two seed plants alone are given as truly 

 montane, one of which, Carex rigida, may be simply an ecad, and the other. 

 Cloudberry, in view of the fairly common occurrence at sea-level on the 

 heath moors of Memel-delta on the Baltic, would seem to be distributed 

 according to the association. It is conceivable that if the lowland peat 

 mosses of the plain had been allowed to work out their slow succession, they 

 \would have become the habitats of the Cloudberry. 



It is to some extent a matter for regret that the intention declared or 

 -suggested some time ago of undertaking a more detailed Botanical and 

 Geographical survey, on the lines of Smith and his co-workers, on the other 

 side of the Pennines, has had to be dropped. The alternative to the usual 

 Flora was suggested in Crump's ' Flora of Halifax,' its application to a 

 wide area by Dr. Moss in the ' Survey of Somerset,' and in an intensive 

 study by Graebner and others of the Continental schools. As it is, the work 

 serves as a storehouse of information and suggestion to workers on more 

 strictly ecological lines, and it is be hoped that soon the area will be added 

 to that immediately to the north as one surveyed. 



In the chapter dealing with Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens the authors 

 are evidently in their element, and the account on the whole is excellent. 

 They are described and arranged in four groups, Rupestral (with 3 sub- 

 divisions). Terrestrial (with 6 sub-divisions), Arboreo-terresj;rial and Arboreo- 

 rupestral and Arboreal. As they state, these are ' admittedly crude classes,' 

 but we agree with their further remark that they ' will no doubt give a good 

 general idea of the nature of our cryptogamic flora.' 



Bound up with the letterpress there are fifteen reproductions of photo- 

 graphs of limestone and moorland associations. It may be suggested, at 

 the risk of being considered ungracious, that the representation of other 

 associations, as the salt marsh, the lowland peat bog, swamps of tarn 

 margins, etc., would have made the set, at the expense of duplicates, more 

 complete as a photographic record. The map is of a simple geographical 

 type, and makes no attempt to suggest the variety of soils or of plant zonation. 



In the Flora proper, the plan adopted is that of Baker's ' North York- 

 shire,' and includes 958 species of the higher plants, 330 species of Mosses, 

 94 Hepatics, and 302 Lichens. This excellent flora, which worthily takes 

 its place alongside its forerunners, Baker's ' North Yorkshire ' and Lee's 



• West Yorkshire,' should find a place on the shelves of all northern 

 botanists. We are enabled to reproduce one of the illustrations (Plate 

 VL). W. M. R. 



A Bird Collector's Medley, by E. C. Arnold, M.A. London : 

 West Newman & Co., 1907. 144 pp., plates, 10/- There is a delightful 

 freshness and originality with this book which at once demands the reader's 

 attention. It is entirely from the author's 'own bat,' is a straightforward 

 narrative of many pleasant shooting expeditions, with descriptions of the 

 birds and their habits, from direct observation, and does not contain a 

 single reference or footnote from beginning to end. In his Introduction 

 Mr. Arnold takes up the cudgels on behalf of the amateur bird collector, 

 who shoots and stuffs his own specimens. He will have nothing to 

 do with the type of man who buys from the dealer, and confines his* per- 

 sonal efforts to arranging and labelling them in a cabinet. He deals largely 



NatoraUiL 



