Revitws and Book Notices. 



259 



more between the varying forms of environment and the band- 

 ing, or other pecuharities of their associated land shells. The 

 facts would not remain inexplicable were our knowledge full 

 enough. I will give an illustration from another shell. In a 

 Hibaldstow limestone quarry, where Gentiana Amarella L. 

 abounds the season through on the arid rock of the quarry 

 floor. Helix hortensis Miiller + liliacina (Taylor), in its dark 

 form, may always be found in small quantities at thrush stones. 

 When the colour of the flowers of this plant is taken into con- 

 sideration, the fact is remarkable. When we know that this 

 quarry is the only locality for this dark variety of H. hortensis 

 known in Lincolnshire, and the plant is found nowhere in the 

 same quantity and variety in size, the fact is still more 

 remarkable. 



I have no large quantity of banded shells from soils suffi- 

 ciently varied, to test whether a simple formula like that I have 

 suggested for H. nemoralis can be worked out for them. There 

 is, however, a law of destruction by thrushes in the case of 

 H. aspersa L., and H. hortensis, my notes are sufficient to prove. 

 I must leave it to others who are interested to work out a 

 formula and the law fully by its aid. Helix virgata Da Costa 

 appears to me the most difficult banded shell we have to make 

 a useful formula for. 







The Scientific Feeding of Animals, by Prof. 0. Kellner. Duckworth & 

 Co., 1909. 404 pp., 6 - net. 



For some time there has been the need for a good treatise on the 

 scientific feeding of animals, and we certainly consider that the publishers 

 could not have supplied tiie want better than by a translation of Prof. 

 Kellner's well-known work, which has already appeared in seven languages. 

 Dr. W. Goodwin, of the Soutii-Eastern Agricultural College, has made 

 the translation, and lias placed all English students and practical farmers 

 and breeders of cattle under a deep debt of gratitude. The volume is not 

 too technical, and is well produced. 



British Birds in their Haunts, by the late Rev. C. A. Johns. Edited and 

 revised by J. A. Owen. London : George Routledge, 326 pp., 7/6 net. 



Notwithstanding the recent flood of ' bird " books, we can say that the 

 present volume is one that we are glad to see, and is one of the few that we 

 can recommend to the serious student. It is sound and thorough, and net 

 full of the silly twaddle which most people who have a field glass and 

 library think they can produce for the benefit of the bird-loving world. 

 Besides mucii useful and reliable information about the various species, 

 the accounts abound with interesting narrative. But the feature of the 

 volume which will appeal to most ornithologists is the excellent series of 

 sixty-four coloured plates, upon which there are two hundred and fifty-six 

 figures. These are particularly faithful representations of the birds, being 

 neither too gaily coloured, nor too clumsily drawn. Having regard to the 

 price of the book (7/6 only), the illustrations are certainly the best of their 

 kind that we have seen for some time, and are likely to prove most useful 

 to the field ornithologist. 



3909 July I. 



