228 
NATURE NOTES 
respect, and by the same process do they lose their not z'«nate but cwnate 
wisdom : thus hens hatched in an artificial oven, as in Egypt, in three or four 
generations (the same process having been repeated in each) lose the instinct of 
brooding. I trust that this Note will not be considered as lessening the value of 
this sweet delightful book. — S. T. Coleridge, 7, 1810, Keswick.'” 
By the courtesy of the publisher we are able to use one of Mr. New’s most 
charming illustrations as the frontispiece to our present volume, and also to give 
an example of the smaller blocks. We congratulate Mr. New on his remarkable 
success in retaining the character of the old illustrations. There is perhaps some 
hardness and monotony of line, and the botanist might demand greater charac- 
terisation of the foliage of trees other than the horse-chestnut ; but if we are 
critical it is only when we are comparing Mr. New’s work to Bewick’s. 
The Library of Natural History Romance. Vol. l : The Romance of IVild 
Flowers: a Companion to the British Flora. By Edward Step, F. L. S. 
Warne & Co.. Brice 6s. 
This is a really excellent work of its class, a popular introduction to what is 
termed “the new Botany.” It makes no pretence at being in any sense a flora ; 
but calls attention to the various adaptations of flower-structure to fertilisation. 
The late Mr. Grant Allen was, we fear, responsible for the attempts made by 
many persons, both readers and writers, to run before they could walk, to grapple 
with the question why before they had in the least mastered the answer to the 
question how ; so that it is a pleasure to read a work by one of this school at 
once so accurate and so attractive as is Mr. Step’s work. Some of the illustra- 
tions from photographs by the author are exquisite. 
Sylvia in Flowerland. By Linda Gardiner. With sixteen illustrations by 
H. E. Butler. Seeley & Co. Price 3s. 6d. 
Dedicated, as is this little book, to our President, there is no doubt about 
its truly Selbornian intent, so that there can equally be no doubt about our 
sympathy with the writer. We believe that some girls and boys do like stories 
in which plants and animals do the talking, and will tolerate a thinly-veiled 
didacticism. There is much dainty punning in the book, reminiscent of Lewis 
Carroll, as when Sylvia exclaims, “ Hairs don’t carry boxes on their heads, do 
they?” and the Nettle replies, “Yes, they do. Bo}’s and girls sometimes get 
boxes on their ears ; why should not plant-hairs have boxes on their heads ? 
If you have hairs on your head, why should we not have heads on our hairs?” 
Some of the ver.ses and most of II. E. Butler’s illustrations are very pretty, as, 
for instance, “the man at the farm who shoots the owls and the hawks . 
because they kill the rats and mice which he likes to .see enjoying themselves 
in his barns;” but there are several not very little blemishes which we .shall 
hope to .see removed in another edition. The artist has missed the effect of 
con.spicuousness which the white campion gains by the overlapping of its petals : 
“Spruces and monkey-puzzle trees’ are, perhaps, a little too previous in the 
Carboniferous period ; the description of the sting of the nettle is inaccurate ; 
and — last, but not least — the Scabious does not belong “ to what are called the 
Composites.” Personally, we much object to human beings being spoken of as 
“ humans,” but this has become very common of late. The book is daintily 
got up, and should be [jopular as a prize in the junior forms of our high schools 
for girls. 
Tommy Smith’s Animals. By lulmund Selous. With eight illustrations by 
G. W. Ord. Methuen & Co. Price 2s. 6d. 
'I'hough smaller, cheaper, and intended for boys perhaps rather younger than 
the little girls who would appreciate “ Sylvia in Mowerland,” this is a very 
similar book, designed to eradicate some of that cruelty to animals which seems 
so innate in the species Homo sapiens of the male .sex. The narrative, which 
begins attractively “ There was once a little boy, named Tommy Smith,” and 
consists of twelve chapters, each with a rhyming couplet by way of summary, 
is told with much humour, and reveals much personal study of animals on the 
