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REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 



The Birmingham and Midland Institute Scientific Society has issued 

 the ' Records of Meteorological Observations taken at the Observatory, 

 Edgbaston, 1907,' by ]Mr. Alfred Cresswell, at two shillings. 



*One and All* Gardening for 1908 (Agricultural and Horticul- 

 tural Association, Ltd., 92 Long Acre, W.C., 2d.) has been received, and is 

 a wonderful twopennyworth. It contains 160 pages of useful matter to 

 gardeners and others, and is profusely illustrated. We are informed that 

 100,000 copies have been printed. 



Wee Tim'rous Beasties, by Douglas English (3rd edition). 

 Cassell & Co., 223 pp., 5/- net. 



We reviewed the first edition of this book in our journal for IMay 1904, 

 and the fact that it has now reached a third edition confirms the good 

 opinion we then expressed respecting it. It is now printed on thicker 

 paper, and makes a most suitable volume for young readers. There are 

 one hundred and fifty illustrations from photographs, mosth" of the smaller 

 mammals. 



Quarterly Record of Additions, No. XXIII. Hull Museums: 



Annual Report for 1907. Being Hull Museum Publications 49 and 50. 



The first of these contains an extremely valuable and interesting account 

 of the Patrington Sun Dial, wrongly described by Poulson as an Anglo- 

 Saxo-Roman altar. We are glad to find that this splendid specimen of 

 seventeenth century dialling has been secured for the Hull Museum, thus 

 ensuring its permanent preservation. 



The second one is sufficiently described by its title. The record of the 

 work done during the past year shows that considerable activity has been 

 displayed in almost every branch of Natural History, Geology, and Archaeo- 

 logy, and reflects the highest credit on all concerned. We are particu- 

 larly pleased to note that No. 48, shortly to be published, will be an index 

 to the forty-seven numbers which have preceded it. Their value will thus 

 "be enhanced, and the many interesting facts they contain rendered more 

 easity accessible. — E. G. B. 



Nature Round the Home, by Patten Wilson. Longmans, 

 Green & Co. 243 pp. 



. The writer sets out by saying in his preface : ' In writing this book, 

 my dears, it is my earnest wish to encourage in you aJl a love of natural 

 history.' On opening the book we notice a full -page picture of a hunts- 

 man, and further on, a gamekeeper with his gun. In the letterpress one 

 finds ' love ' of very amazing a character. How such an author can label 

 himself ' A lover of nature ' is more than we can fathom. Here are a few 

 extracts : — Page 55 — ' So I shot Mr. Mouse and several of his family -udth 

 an air gun, as they crept along the curtain pole.' Page 60 — ' Arthur and 

 John take the ferrets from the little bags, and put them in the rat holes.' 

 Page 166—' Chapter on " Starlings " (i) ' He blew off both barrels of his 

 •gun at them., &c.' . . . (2) ' Splitting their tongues with a silver coin to 

 jnake them talk,' The reader is advised ' not to try it,' because it is 

 ' nonsense ' — not a word about its heathenish cruelty, (3) ' Starlings are 

 very good to eat when young, when cooked in a pie. I think I must have 

 a few.' We observe that Mr. Patten Wilson's feelings — what he has of 

 them — reside in his lowev bosom.' Page 161—' When you are old enough, 

 you will use a small bore Colt rifle for rook shooting, with a bullet about this 

 size ! ' (Here follows a full-size sketch of a bullet). Page 174—' Shooters 

 -do not shoot him as he is walking, because that would be too easy.' And 

 now a word of thanks to Patten Wilson for writing his little book too late 

 for my sons to be warped by its teaching. — D. W. Bevan. 



2908 April I. 



