214 
NATURE NOTES. 
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Illustrated Guide to British Mosses, with Keys to the Genera and Species. Ey 
the Rev. H. G. Jameson, M.A. pp. 8o, 59 plates. Price 7s. 6d. post free, cloth, 
1893. Published by the author at 6, College Road, Eastbourne. 
Last November we ventured to lay before the readers of Nature Notes a few 
remarks upon the literature dealing with the British mosses. One of the books 
then recommended was the Rev. H. G. Jameson’s Key to the Genera and Species 
of British Mosses ; its great merit being that it afforded a speedy and simple means 
of referring even barren specimens to their proper genus and species. As Mr. 
Jameson pointed out, the methods adopted by his predecessors failed by attaching 
too much importance to the structure of the fruit, so that the beginner was apt to 
be left “quite at a loss with regard to such common and easily distinguished 
mosses as Thuidium tamarisciniun, the Hylocomiums, Mnitttn undulatum, &c. , 
which will probably be among the first he gathers, and none of which are likely to 
be in fruit.” Accordingly he drew up his key upon lines better adapted to the 
requirements of a beginner. But not contented with his first venture, he set him- 
self to work to improve upon it, and has now published the result of his labours 
in this Illustrated Guide to British Mosses. In our little article of last year we 
lamented that “adequate illustrations whereby ‘the beginner’ may check the 
determinations ” at which he shall arrive were only to be met with in books of 
considerable cost. This difficulty Mr. Jameson has overcome by making drawings 
“ direct from nature by means of the camera lucida,” and lithographing them with 
his own hand, so that every species is correctly figured, and throughout to a 
uniform scale of magnitude. Thus “the figures shew at a glance, not merely 
their shape, but their comparative size,” a matter of great convenience. There 
are 59 plates in all, containing upwards of 2,400 figures. The original key has 
“been thoroughly revised, and in great part re-written.” Hints are given under 
each genus as to how the student may avoid the various mistakes which he is 
liable to make. The book opens with an introduction of seven short chapters, of 
which six treat in a lucid manner of the structure of the various parts of the moss- 
plant and are illustrated by seven plates, and the seventh describes the apparatus 
necessary for the examination of specimens and how to use it. We are convinced 
that when once the student has made himself well acquainted with the teaching 
conveyed by the introductory chapters, he need have but little fear of failure in 
employing the key for the discrimination of the specimens which he may collect. 
.L G. 
We have so often recommended Mrs. Brightwen’s books, that we cannot say 
more in their praise. Yet the appearance of an editio de luxe (price 5s.) of Wild 
Nature must not pass unrecorded in these pages, and we therefore borrow from 
The Sun this very appreciative notice: — “Mr. T. Fisher Unwin is publishing a 
new edition (the fifth) of Mrs. Brightwen’s iVild Nature Won by Kindness, and to 
any readers of The Sun who are unfamiliar with this perfectly charming little 
work, I would say, ‘add it to your library without delay.’ In an age busy with 
social and political dissensions, Mrs. Brightwen remains like some gentle spirit of 
the last generation, upon whom the mantle of Gilbert White has very tenderly 
descended. Her pretty home at Stanmore is filled with pets. When the spring 
comes she knows every nest around her garden paths, and on more than one 
occasion she has brought up a brood of deserted nestlings by her own hand. All 
these gracious characteristics are fully mirrored in her volume, which is also 
adorned by many illustrations from her pencil. It is good to feel that the genius 
of the country side is not yet scared away by the hammering of the jerry builder, 
and Mrs. Brightwen’s volume is a delightful e.xample of a class of work which one 
fears may grow rarer as the life of commerce extends into our villages. It is a 
book made for the pure pleasure of its record, and from hrst page to last it is just 
charming.” 
W’e must confess to a feeling of great disappointment with regard to The 
Nature Lover, a new quarterly magazine published by Mr. Elliot Stock. The 
titles of two of the papers, “ Gentle Izaak the Humbug,” and “ Timber, by Sam 
