NATURE NOTES. 
150 
A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS. 
Monograph of the British Cicada, by George Bovvdler Buckton, F. R.S. , 
L.L.S., L.G.S., L.E.S., &c. Macmillan & Co. [Two vols. Price three 
guineas.] 
The book for Nature lovers which we notice this month is not at all of the 
same nature as those which we usually select — cheap, popular, and inexpensive. 
It is an accurate scientific treatise on a comparatively limited group of the enor- 
mous class of Insecta ; it contains an immense number of technical details, and. 
the quantity of admirable coloured illustrations given has caused the price to be 
so high that it is beyond the reach of most of our readers. In spite of all these- 
drawbacks we cordially recommend all Nature lovers, whether they are skilled, 
entomologists or not, to take the first opportunity of looking through this work, 
and we feel sure that those who do so will acknowledge that they have here some- 
thing far different from, and superior to, the ordinary dryasdust monographs on 
groups of insects, which have no interest but for a very limited number of 
specialists. It would be impossible for any one who had read the most interesting 
and copious introduction with which Dr. Buckton has prefaced his work, not to 
take very considerable interest in the subject of his Monograph. In the first 
place he eloquently, and on good authority, claims a high place for such mono- 
graphs as contributions to scientific knowledge, as follows : — 
“Addison, in No. 121 of the Spectator, writes: ‘I could wish that out of 
several writers some one would take each his particular species and give us a 
distinct account of the frame and the texture of its parts, and particularly those 
which distinguish it from other animals ; this would be one of the best services that 
they could do to mankind.’ Bacon thought that it was within the capacity of man 
to control, and even to command, the forces of Nature, but our steps in the inves- 
tigation of biological problems must for a long time be faltering. Even the first 
great generalisations of Newton and of Darwin will require modification, as our 
knowledge becomes more exact, and our materials for reasoning, based on experi- 
ment, accumulate. In such a manner safe induction passes into practical deduc- 
tion, and experiment becomes the best proof of acquired knowledge.” 
Dr. Buckton gives a very full account of the curious myths and tales told by 
the Greek and Latin writers, and devotes part of his introduction to an anthology 
of quotation from the various poets who have celebrated the Cicada. There are 
Anacreontic odes and extracts from Virgil and Lucretius, and among our own 
poets, from Cowley and Browning; but our readers will perhaps be most interested 
in the following passage with regard to the allusions made by the President of 
the Selborne Society and Poet Laureate of England, for ascertaining whose views 
Dr. Buckton has, we believe, exceptional opportunities. 
“Lord Tennyson, with his usual accuracy in natural history as well as in. 
astronomical observation, clearly discriminates between the Cicada and the 
grasshopper. He gives in ‘ Gfnone ’ a fine picture suggesting the sultry sum- 
mer heat — 
“ ‘ The grasshopper is silent in the grass. 
The lizard with his shadow in the sun 
Rests like a shadow, and the cicala sleeps.’ 
“ Again, in ‘ Mariana in the South,’ 
“ ‘ At eve a dry cicala sung 
There came a sound as of the sea.’ 
and once again we have in his early poem ‘ The Dirge,’ 
“ ‘ The balm cricket carols clear ;’ 
on which Dr. Murray suggested to me, as a clue, bainn or tree-cricket ; but now 
I have good reason to know that the cricket of the hearth, which feeds on meal 
or balm amongst other things, was the insect meant, and no ‘ tree singer.' ” 
There are few subjects which are treated in a more slovenly manner than the 
etymology of the scientific names of animals and plants. The wild guesses and 
utterly unscientific assertions which are made in most botanical and zoological 
works are enough to make the hair of the trained philologist stand on end. The 
discussion of Dr. Buckton on the derivation of Cicada is a refreshing contrast to 
such abominations, and a model of the way which such work ought to be done. 
