3' 



REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 



Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, 

 Durham and Newcastle=upon=Tyne. (N.S.) Vol. III., Pt. i, 1908 ; 

 pp. 1-222 + i-xxvii, Newcastle. 5/6. 



We have received the volume for 1908 of the Transactions of this 

 energetic Society, and it includes many valuable papers, several dealing 

 -with the more neglected branches of natural history. There are also 

 several excellent illustrations. An appeal for funds for the publicaj;ion 

 of the Society's work resulted in over ^245 being received. In addition 

 to the Report for 1906-7, is a full report of Field Meetings, 1906, by Mr. 

 R. Adamson ; some miscellaneous notes by the Curator, Mr. E. Leonard 

 Gill, from whose pen also appears an excellent appendix on ' The Hancock 

 ^Museum and its History.' Miss M. Y. Lebour gives a second instalment of 

 her ]^Iemoirs on the Trematodes of the Northumberland Coast, and Mr. 

 G. W. Temperley writes on ' The Northumberland Coast in September — 

 an Ornithological Ramble.' There are two papers dealing with arachnida ; 

 jNIr. A. Randell Jackson writes ' On some rare Arachnida captured during 

 1907,' and ' Allendale spiders ' is by the Rev. J. E. Hull. Lt.-Col. C. H. E. 

 Adamson gives part II. of his Catalogue of Butterflies collected in Burmah. 

 A useful paper is by R. S. Bagnall, \On some New Genera and Species of 

 Thysanoptera.' There are also two valuable geological papers, viz., 

 a ' Preliminary Note on a case of Thrust and Crush-Brecciation in the 

 Magnesian Limestone, Co. Durham,' by Dr. D. Woolacott, and a lengthy 

 and well-illustrated memoir on ' The Glacial Phenomena of the country 

 between the Tyne and the Wansbeck.' Altogether, the volume is an ideal 

 one for a provincial Society, and we should like to congratulate our New- 

 castle friends upon the way in which they are investigating the so-called 

 ^ unattractive ' branches of natural history. 



Report ol the Immigrations of Summer Residents in the Spring 

 of 1907: also Notes on the Migratory Movements during the Autumn of 

 1906. Bv the ^Miofration Committee of the British Ornithologists' Club, and 

 edited by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie=Qrant. Being- Vol. XXH., Bull. B.O.C., 

 202 pp. and 31 maps. Whitherby & Co., 6s. net (paper cover). 



This, the Third Annual Report, is to hand, and is on similar lines to 

 its two predecessors, excepting that, in addition, it gives some short notes 

 on the autumn migrants of 1906. This work should be read by all 

 British students of bird migration, although, as we have previously 

 pointed out, it is not quite satisfactory. In places, it certainly gives 

 one the impression in the series of immigrations through England, as is 

 illustrated by the maps, that chosen data of a species have been 

 inserted so as to fit in with the hrst, second, or third immigrations 

 as the case may be. We must again protest that the bare term 

 ' Yorkshire ' is insufficient for the purpose, and only confuses tiie 

 Yorkshire student of bird migration, by irretrievably mixing many im- 

 portant and distinct bird movements ; although we are pleased to observe 

 that the few notes from the lighthouse at Spurn are given under ' York- 

 shire Lights.' We would suggest that in future Reports, the terms 

 ' West Yorkshire,' ' East Yorkshire,' and ' Yorkshire Coast ' should be 

 used ; and the same rule would, most probably, apply to most sea-board 

 counties. At the same time, the thanks of all students of bird migration 

 should be accorded to this Committee, and more particularly to Mr. Bon- 

 hote, for his work in endeavouring to classify the data of so many important 

 observers stationed all over England and Wales — Lincolnshire, (an im- 

 portant county in this respect), being very poorly represented. It may 

 be of interest to non-believers in ' March Cuckoos,' that the Committee 

 acknowledge the authenticity of no fewer than six reports of Cuckoos 

 from the south-western counties from March 26th to March 31st. 



H.B.B. 



1,909 January i. 



