Reviews and Book Notices. 



383 



POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



Several volumes dealing with natural histor}^ from a popular stand- 

 point have recently reached us. Foremost amongst them are the 3rd and 

 4th volumes of The Book of Nature Study (The Caxton Publishing Co.), 

 the first two of which we have already noticed. Vols. III. and IV. are 

 entirely botanical, well-written on up-to-date lines, and are well illustrated 

 by plates (some coloured) and diagrams. Volume III. is in two 

 sections — the first containing chapters on the life and growth of seedlings, 

 the growth of the shoots from the bud, the growth of plants independently 

 of seeds, and the importance of hairs in plant life, being written by Miss 

 C. L. Laurie. The second section deals with some Common Flowering 

 Plants, contains an Introduction, and chapters on Spring Flowers and 

 Early Summer Flowers, and is by Dr. W. H. Long. In Vol. IV. Dr. 

 Long continues his studies of Common Flowering Plants, and has also 

 chapters on the Scots Pine, and on the arrangement of the plants des- 

 cribed in their families or natural orders. Dr. F. Cavers, whose valuable 

 contributions are well known to readers of ' The Naturalist,' writes on 

 * Ferns and their Relatives, Mosses and Liverworts, the Higher Fungi, 

 Lichens and Moulds, Yeast and Bacteria ' ; Miss Laurie continues with 

 articles on ' Woodland Vegetation, Plant Associations, and the Vegetations 

 of Commons, Heaths and Moors.' These are all subjects that have been 

 dealt with in this journal from time to time, and we can therefore strongly 

 recommend these volumes to our readers. 



INIessrs. Cassell & Co. have published a second volume of * The Nature 

 Book' (12/-). the first of which we had pleasure in recommending some 

 little time ago. The present is even more interesting than the first of the 

 series, and having regard to the general excellence of the matter, the many 

 illustrations from photographs, and the general appearance of the work, 

 is a very cheap and desirable volume. Every branch of natural history 

 seems to be dealt with. Amongst the contributors we notice the names of 

 Douglas English, F. JNI. Duncan, J. J. Ward, the late Joseph Lomas, and 

 many others. A charming feature is the number of coloured plates 

 mounted on tinted paper. 



INIessrs. Gowans & Grey, Glasgow, have sent us Nos. 18, 19 and 20 of 

 their wonderful Sixpenny Nature Books, each of which contains sixty 

 beautiful reproductions from photographs, and descriptive letterpress. 

 No. 18 deals with Pond and Stream Life ; No. 19, Wild Birds at Home 

 (3rd series), and No. 20, Alpine Plants at Home. 



The Natural History of Selborne, by Gilbert White, and The Naturalist 

 on the River Amazons, by H. W. Bates. Edited by H. B. Browne. Each 

 96 pp. London : Edward Arnold, 6d. 



The Editor of these two little volumes, in his capacity as Senior English 

 Master at Hymers College, Hull, has exceptional opportunity of judging 

 the needs of scholars in our public schools, and has made selections from 

 the two volumes by White and Bates, so as to make the works of value 

 and interest to young readers. By means of footnotes obscure passage? 

 are made clear, or supplementary information is given. The books are 

 excellent ; we only wish such volumes had been in use at schools twenty 

 years ago ! 



An Ancient Scottish Stronghold : the Story of Dumbarton Castle, by 



W. Chambers. Dumbarton : Bennett & Thompson, 74 pp. 



As the profits from the sale of this pamphlet are to be devoted to the 

 fund for the establishment of a chair of Scottish History in Glasgow Univer- 

 sity, it is sincerely to be hoped it has a large sale. A carefully-written 

 account of the castle is given, shewing the various uses to which it has been 

 put from the earliest times ; and there is an impartial description of 

 the famous crannog of Dumbuck, though no reference is made to the 

 ' antique ' carvings which were then discovered upon modern American 

 ' blue-point ' oyster shells. 



1909 Nov. I. 



