I 12 
NATURE NOTES. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Islaiui Life, by Alfred Russel \Vallace. Second and Revised Edition. Mac- 
millan & Co., 1892. Pp. XX. 563. Twenty-six maps and diagrams. Price 6s. 
In writing a notice of any book by Mr. Wallace, the first impression to be recorded 
is one most shortly described by saying that its contents are literature. The man 
must be a dull fool who reads any such book merely for the facts, &c., and akin 
to the brainless creatures who read Sir Walter Scott for the plots of his novels. 
The publishers have done well for the public, and it is to be hoped, well for them- 
selves, in issuing these cheaper editions of the works of this great writer. The 
Malay Archipelago is to be bought for 4s. 6d ; the Travels on the Amazon for 
IS. fid. There are doubtless greater works on Natural Historj’ with narratives of 
travels, e.g., the author’s Malay Archipelago, Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, 
Hooker’s Journals ; but Wallace’s Travels on the Amazon, as a book of travel, is 
surely without a rival. A distinguished man of letters has been known to rejoice 
that Mr. Wallace’s collection of that expedition was burnt at sea, for the double 
reason, that, if they had come safely home, his book would have been too much 
trammelled w’ith natural history, and literature would have lost the tragic conclu- 
sion. Needless to say, our sympathies are with Mr. Wallace in that matter ; but 
the saying doubtless explains the charm of his book in its literary effect. In Island 
Life there is not the sustaining effect of narrative ; but we have the equal mental 
charm of argument, clearly set forth in faultless language, and a subject of singular 
fascination to naturalists. This enquirj’ into the phenomena and causes of insular 
faunas and floras has had joined with it an attempted solution of the problem of 
geological climates, which in many respects is an inseparable part of the same 
subject. Those who have read the first edition of this book will be glad to have 
the excellent excuse for reading the present one, that it has received so many im- 
portant additions, and so much revision, that, some chapters especially, wear a new 
aspect, and carry modifications of previous arguments, owing to the acquisition of 
new facts and the general gain in accuracy produced by recent researches. In 
some portions of the book this is, of course, more marked than in others, notably 
in the discussion of the causes of glacial epochs and mild arctic climates, owing to 
the work of Dr. Croll — but possibly one notices this chapter in particular, since 
the interest in the subject is of such momentous character and the exposition of it 
so wonderfully lucid. The additions to the account of Madagascar are also 
extremely noteworthy, since so much activity has recently been displayed in its 
exploration, and anything that helps to elucidate the physical and biological his- 
tory of this most interesting of the ancient continental islands, may safely claim 
particular welcome. 
The great value of such a book as this to Selbornians consists in the light it 
throws on the phenomena of nature in which we take delight. The plants and 
animals of our excursions gain new interests when we know their past history. We 
are dwellers in an island, and though Great Britain is of recent origin, it is in Mr. 
Wallace’s opinion “perhaps the most typical example of a large and recent con- 
tinental island now to be found upon the globe ” — an additional and blameless 
reason for complacency on the part of the ‘happy English child.’ A study of 
the portion devoted to the British Isles gives an excellent insight into the methods 
and arguments employed by Mr. Wallace in the making of this great book— it is 
a model of such enquir)' — and it invests so many of our animals and plants with a 
new interest that it extorts a special claim from the hearty gratitude of all Sel- 
bornians. G. M. 
We are probably not far wrong in thinking that the great and deserved success 
which attended the publication of Canon Atkinson’s Moorland Parish and The 
Last of the Giant Killers has caused him to re-issue two of his earlier works. 
More than thirty years ago, he published for the delectation of youth, the Walks, 
Talks, Travels, and Exploits of Two Schoolboys, and a companion volume. Play- 
hours and Half- Holidays ; and these are now reproduced for the benefit of another 
generation. There is such a constant demand among boys for stories of school- 
days, that there can be little doubt that these books will find a ready sale ; and 
they are especially suited for young Selbornians, inasmuch as a large amount of 
