Notes and Comments . 
7 
remains.’ The ammonite figured on page 45, said to be 
‘ filled with chalk,’ is certainly not filled with chalk. In 
other instances the same fossil is photographed on different 
plates, and is used to illustrate different divisions. For in- 
stance, ‘ Fern-print from the coal beds,’ on page 45, also 
appears as ‘ Pecopteris ’ among fossils in ‘ Permian and 
Triassic Rocks ’ on page 55 ! Similarly a curious object 
described as * Lepidodendron,’ and appearing among the 
fossils in ‘ Old Red Sandstone ’ on page 51, also does duty as 
a fossil in the ‘ Permian and Triassic Rocks ’ on page 54, 
though Lepidodendron is typical of neither ! Again, the 
object described as a ‘ Spirifera ’ in ’ Old Red Sandstone 
apparently also appears as ‘ Spirifer ’ in ’ Permian and Triassic 
rocks,’ ‘ Spirifer ’ in * Oolite and Lias,’ and so on ; and we 
defy anyone to guess what the object described as ‘ Head of 
a stone celt ’ is, on page 63. Mr. Crabtree may or may not 
be an excellent photographer, but we cannot look to him for 
guidance in identifying fossils. 
ANOTHER GEM. 
Speaking of ‘ The Ice Age and After,’ Mr. Crabtree amuses 
us : — ‘ Our Island formed part of the European mainland ; 
and the mammals that traversed the whole continent were 
much like those of existing genera. Some have become 
extinct during the million years that have intervened since 
the “ Ice Age,” these include the mammoth, Irish deer 
(sic) dodo, (sic), and dinornis (sic), a large bird. Other 
animals have migrated to farther climes.’ Thanks be! 
Oddly enough, this book dealing with ‘ Rocks and Fossils 
has a modern coral (which is neither) on the front cover ! 
CUCKOO FILMED. 
We learn from Nature that ‘ A very remarkable kinemato- 
graph film, illustrating the method by which the cuckoo 
disposes of its eggs, and the subsequent behaviour of the young, 
was exhibited at the scientific meeting of the Zoological 
Society held recently. For some years these matters have 
formed the subject of very patient and methodical study by 
Mr. Edgar Chance, and this summer he contrived, after an 
elaborately worked out plan, to summarise his results with 
the aid of a kinematographer carefully concealed within the 
shelter of leaves and bracken. Hitherto it has been the 
accepted belief that the cuckoo deposited her egg upon the 
ground and then conveyed it to the nest of her dupe in her 
beak. This film showed clearly enough that, as a matter of 
fact, the bird lays the egg within the nest, which, at any rate 
in the case of meadow-pipits’ nests, she leaves tail foremost, 
apparently to avoid displacing the “run” made by the owners 
of the nest. As she leaves she takes in her beak one of the 
1922 Jan. 1 
