BOOKS OP THE QUARTER. 
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we have a yellowish green, unicoloured variety, once described as H. 
subglobosa , and on another, within a very short distance, we find a banded 
variety and none others.” We have not selected this quotation specially, 
and therefore we regard it as a good proof of the value of the entire work. 
We are not disposed to accept the opinions expressed in the last few pages, 
but think them exceedingly original and ingenious, and calculated rather 
to assist than retard the view of Mr. Darwin. The Analytical Key, which 
resembles that of Mr. Bentham’s Flora, is novel, and likely to be of ser- 
vice in the estimation of species. A good general idea of distribution may 
be derived from the study of the map. There is an appendix of eight 
pages, furnishing the titles of all the works referred to by the author ; and 
the frontispiece exhibits a well-executed steel engraving of the celebrated 
Draparnaud, a circumstance which lends an interest to a volume that will 
be purchased by every working zoologist in England. 
NATURAL HISTORY AND SPORT IN MORAY.* 
H ERE is a book to please all lovers of sport. It consists in the 
arranged notes and journals of that celebrated naturalist-sports- 
man, the late Mr. Charles St. John. All Highland sportsmen and most 
English ones must be familiar with his name. He was one of those men 
who, though enthusiastically fond of animals as associated with sport , 
was nevertheless an acute observer of nature, and one whose greatest 
pleasure was in watching the haunts and the habits of animals, and in 
narrating to his friends the results of his pursuits. Mr. Innes, the 
collector and editor of the materials which now constitute a most 
interesting work, has discharged his office well, and the arrangement 
pursued by him will doubtless meet with approbation on all sides. The 
author’s observations, which of course extended over many years, have here 
been grouped in accordance with the months in which they were made, so 
that we have a record of animals, &c., seen, shot, and preserved in each 
month of the year. Let us see what we have in the first chapter, under 
the heading of January. First, the ivood-pigeons are alluded to, and 
their inability to pierce the hard skin of the turnip with their beaks is 
briefly touched on ; then follows a description of the titmice, those pert, 
prying little birds which come hopping about our gardens in this inclement 
season ; and our author, writing in his pleasing, colloquial style, remarks 
of one of these (the little blue tomtit) : “ Like the greater titmouse, the 
little bird is quite omnivorous, feeding on everything that comes in its 
way. It is fond of carrion, and I have frequently seen it feeding on dead 
mice or rats. It comes boldly to the window, and even into the room, in 
search of flies. It is, however, very impatient of confinement, and difficult 
* “ Natural History and Sport in Moray.” Collected from the Journals 
and Letters of the late Charles St. John, Author of “ Wild Sports of the 
Highlands.” Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas. 18G3. 
