REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES 
•57 
stead Heath, nor does Veronica spicala, whilst Bella, Salex, Hippnrns and Gallium 
do not improve the appearance of an account for the compilation of which there 
are abundant materials. VVe are indebted to Mr. Elliot Stock for permission to 
reproduce the accompanying illustrations. 
Country Matters in Short. By William Frederick Collier. Duckworth & Co. 
1899. Price 3s. 6d. nett. 
The fact that this dainty little volume of essays, by an occasional correspon- 
dent of Nature Notes, is made up of reprints from the Saturday Review, is 
perhaps guarantee of its literary quality ; but, writing in weather well nigh 
tropical, we may well add a few words to point out that the essays are really 
short, sometimes almost provokingly so, whilst the book as a whole is rejoicefully 
light for these days of heavy paper. Dogs, hunting and South Devon are Mr. 
Collier’s main topics, and we have taken up his papers so often to while away a 
pleasant five minutes that we feel quite sorry that we cannot agree with his thesis 
that Shakespeare anticipated the discovery of sex in plants. We once knew a 
most able botanist who in the unconscious humility of true greatness, remarked 
of another of vastly inferior attainments, “ You never know what X. knows until 
you mention something and find that he has been thinking of it all the time.” 
We have long suspected that Sir Thomas Millington’s reputation as to the recog- 
nition of sex in the vegetable world was based on similar modesty on the part of 
Grew. 
Field-path Rambles round Maidstone. By Walker Miles. R. E. Taylor & .Son. 
Price 6d. 
Mr. Walker Miles, in this little book, illustrated by six pretty views on the 
Medway from photographs by Mr. A. Bedding and describing twelve excellent 
walks in his well-known minuteness of'detail, has laid us under fresh obligations. 
Though maps may be had to accompany these handbooks, the directions given 
quite obviate the use of any maps, as we have repeatedly proved by personal 
trial. Would it not be possible, without adding seriously to the bulk of these 
booklets, to give in the liriefest form some indication of the points of interest 
en route, the date or historic association of old buildings, the whereabouts of 
interesting plants, &c. 
The Derbyshire Naturalist's Quarterly, being the Official Magazine of the 
Blackwell and district Scientific and Litera 7 y Society, the Bakewell and 
district Naturalists’ Field Club, the Matlock Field Chib. Edited by Rev. 
Claude Hinscliff, Blackwell, vol. i., No. i. May 19, 1900. Price 6d. 
This is a step in the right direction and a good step too. A Derbyshire 
Quarterly may well succeed where the Midland Naturalist failed ; for, after all, 
county feeling is a potent force. The contents are varied, solidly written and 
well got up. We must, however, protest against the wholesale use, contrary to 
all custom, of capital initial letters to specific names. 
North American Fauna, No. 17 .• Revision of American Voles of the genus 
Microtus. By Vernon Bailey, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Division of 
Biological Survey. June 6, 1900, pp. 88, with 5 plates and 17 figures in 
text. 
This seems a very thorough-going little monograph on a genus including 
seventy species and sub-species of North American voles, arranged under nine 
sub-genera. Between 5,000 and 6,000 specimens have been examined, so that 
the author has certainly compressed his results into an absolute precis of 
information. 
Mineralogy. By Frank Rutley, F.G.S. Twelfth edition, revised and corrected 
Thomas Murby. Price 2S. 
The fact that this manual of an abstruse and not very popular branch of 
science has reached its twelfth edition, is sufficient recommendation in itself. 
Received. — The Victorian Naturalist for June; The Naturalist; Irish 
Naturalist ; Knowledge ; Science Gossip; Humanity ; The Animals' Friend; 
Our Animal Friends, and Agricultui-al Economist for July. 
