NATURE NOTES. 
Even such expressions as “ hibernation capabilities,” or “ high earth eccen- 
tricity,” are by no means agreeable to an English ear, and might easily have been 
dispensed with. It has, no doubt, been necessarj' for Mr. Dixon in the course 
of his researches to read a great deal of German, but there was surely no need 
for him to adopt the habit of using the unnatural idioms of that ill-used language. 
Again, the scientific ornithologist will find fault with Mr. Dixon for not quoting 
the authorities for the immense number of facts which he has brought together. 
■Surely he might at least have given us a list of the books he has used ; one or 
two are quoted in the preface, and here and there in the text an authority is 
referred to, but this is all the means we have of verifying many of his statements. 
The plain fact is that Mr. Dixon has attempted too much, and has given himself 
insufficient time. This is indeed a pity, for the book contains much that is 
interesting, and in the last three chapters, and also in that on “ the perils of 
migrations,” where the subject matter is easier to handle, the reader will find the 
facts, so far as they are at present known, gathered together in a way that can 
hardly fail to be useful. Vet even now, as I read again the last chapter on 
migration in the British Islands, I cannot but feel that it is altogether incomplete 
and unsatisfactoiy, and that quite as much may be learnt from those excellent 
maps, intended to illustrate the routes of migration, which the authors of the 
Birds of Devon have appended to their valuable work. Mr. Dixon seems 
indeed to have been pressed for space, and tells us that he could have easily filled 
a whole volume with the matter of this last chapter alone. I cannot help 
sincerely wishing that he had limited himself to this part of the subject, and had 
given us his own experience and views in a simple and unambitious form. In 
this way he might have aroused a more general interest in the phenomena which 
are within our own reach, and so have gradually led up to the more profound 
problems which }’et await solution, and which cannot be even understood as 
unsolved problems without some knowledge of geological theories and of as- 
tronomical facts. I wish, in fact, that he had made up his mind to write either a 
popular book or a book of science, and that, which ever choice he made, he had 
taken more time over his work. I speak as an unscientific ornithologist who 
wishes to learn, but also, if I may say so, as one who knows well enough what 
scientific and scholarly work means. 
W. Warde Fowler. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS, 
We regret extremely that it is impossible to notice in the present number the 
numerous books which we have received for review. We regret it all the more 
because we believe that one of the most useful functions of Nature Notes is 
the recommendation of good books. Some day we hope to draw up a list of 
books suitable to form the nucleus of a Selborne Library, which we should like 
to see adopted as part of the machinery of every branch, and we shall be glad to 
receive suggestions on the subject. At the end of these 'notices is a list of the 
principal works which demand our attention, most of which we hope to review in 
January. 
Ve°etahle Wasps and Plant Worms, by M. C. Cooke (Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge, 1892). Pp. 354. 51 woodcuts and 4 plates. Price 5s. 
If the principle that regulates the choice of the titles of scientific books has 
any validity, wonders are portended by this title. However, it is only the 
author’s playful way of describing his popular history of entomogenous fungi, i.e., 
fungi that are parasitic on insects — though where the “plant worms ” come in is 
not so plain. Such fungi have attracted the notice of most naturalists, and their 
remarkable character induced Mr. G. R. Gray some thirty-five years ago to print 
(privately) a memoir of them which Mr. Cooke has made the foundation of his 
book. Mr. Gray left in manuscript a preparation for a new edition of his memoir 
(now in the Botanical Department of the British Museum), and it is a pity that 
iSlr. Cooke, who has done justice to the memoir as he knew it did not learn of 
the existence of this. However, he has made a very complete and interesting 
