2o8 
NATURE NOTES 
Protecting the Osprey. — “ France has at last taken a step 
for which a certain section of British opinion has been working 
a long time. Senegal is one of the regions where the osprey 
makes its home, and whole regions have been so ravaged in 
search of the birds’ beautiful aigrette that the breed is threatened 
with extinction. M. Ponty, Governor of Senegal, has prohibited 
the killing of any of these birds for a period of two years. An 
effort is also to be made to breed them in captivity for com- 
mercial purposes.” — Globe. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
Observing and Forecasting the Weather : Meteorology -vithout Instruments. By 
D. W. Horner. With illustrations from photographs taken by the Author. 
7| inches X ^ inches. Pp. 46. Witherby and Co. Price 6d. net. 
This little book contains chapters on clouds, wind, halos, thunderstorms, 
weather-sayings, the moon and phenology ; and perhaps a careful study of the 
author’s remarks will enable anyone without instruments to forecast the weather 
almost as well as the Meteorological Office does with them. The two illustra- 
tions are hardly worth the mention on the title-page. 
The White Horse Stone and its Legend. By F. J. Bennett. Illustrated, 
in. X 5J in. Pp. 12. Oliver, West Mailing, Kent. Price 3d. 
Mr. Bennett’s figures and description of this remarkable Kentish megalith are 
undoubtedly interesting ; but we would deprecate the practice of inventing new 
names such as the Western Sphinx, and still more the concoction of brand-new 
“ legends ” for such structures. Popular mythopreia does not require such 
assistance. 
Report and Transactions of the Ealing Scientific and Microscopical Society 
for 1906-7. 
This annual issue contains full abstracts of nine lectures on a variety of topics. 
In such a publication generic names should not be printed without initial capitals, 
nor should Sir E. Ray Lankester’s name have appeared as Lancaster. In a town 
which has grown to the vast extent that Ealing has done within recent years such 
a society as this, which has, we note, reached thirty years of age, ought not to 
have to complain of lack of junior members. 
The Story of Insect Life. By W. Percival Westell. With 8 coloured plates 
and 138 illustrations from photographs. 8 inches x 6 inches. Pp. 339. Robert 
Culley. Price 5s. net. 
Volumes from the pen of Mr. Westell seem to make their appearance with 
dangerous rapidity ; but we know the present one to have been for some time in 
preparation, and we do not think we have read any work hy its author of which 
we have formed such an unqualified good opinion. The study of Natural History 
now begins at an earlier age than formerly, so that such an old favourite as 
“Kirby and Spence,” or such excellent modern manuals as Profe.ssor George 
Carpenter’s, may well be above the heads of our beginners ; whilst there is 
undoubtedly great danger lest “ entomology ” should begin and end in the col- 
lection of butterflies. In spite of the many popular books on the science there 
was, therefore, room for one dealing with all orders of insects in simple untechnical 
language ; and this is what the present volume does. With no pretension to 
originality, Mr. Westell has taken great pains to present accurate as well as 
popular information, and we have detected very few errors, and those of the 
slightest. “ Delpins ” (p. 71) is obviously a misprint for “ Delpino,” and the 
Cuckoo-pint is not, as stated on p. 62, so called because its “sheath is like a 
