92 
NATURE NOTES. 
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
When a family which includes some young Selbornians betakes itself to a 
marine watering place, a thoughtful paterfamilias will be sure to provide them 
with some little manual by the aid of which they may systematise and arrange 
the varied knowledge of nature which they acquire in their rambles by the shore. 
Even at the present day, when the press teems with popular works on Natural 
History, it would be difficult to select a better guide than a handbook familiar to 
the last generation, the Seaside Book of Professor Harvey, the fourth edition of 
which we have received from Messrs. Gurney and Jackson, the successors of the 
well-known publishing house of Van Voorst. In this work the famous Irish 
algologist not only deals with the sea-weeds — his own special subject of study — but 
discusses the physical laws which cause the motions of the world of waters, and 
describes at length the various animals which inhabit the rocks and sands of the 
sea-shore, and gives many interesting details as to the microscopic wonders of the 
sea. Sea-side plants and birds are also treated of, and a large amount of infor- 
mation is given as to the best method of securing treasure (faunal and floral 
treasure, not the buried spoil of ancient pirates) by dredging. Professor 
Harvey follows Mr. Yarrell in assigning all manner of virtues to a fish diet : 
if you want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, eat fish ; if you wish to im- 
mensely increase your intellectual faculties, eat fish ; if you desire to 
properly carry- out your religious obligations, eat fish — at certain times. 
The Irish priests, according to some writers, formerly allowed themselves 
considerable laxity in this matter, and ate good Solan geese at fast times on 
the plea that, as they came from barnacles, they must be shell fish, and as 
the barnacles grew on trees, they were not far removed from vegetables. 
While Professor Harvey quotes a passage to this effect from an old Dutch book 
of travels, he is careful to avoid any definite statement which might offend the 
sensitiveness of his fellow-countrymen. Perhaps the story originated from some 
witty Father Burke of the seventeenth century, who thought he had a good 
opportunity of testing the gullibility of a Dutch tourist. 
Pond Life : Algce and allied Forms, by T. Spencer Smithson, is one of a 
series published by Swan Sonnenschein and Co. This little book is so much 
better than most of its class that its coming is a pleasant surprise. The author 
shows a personal acquaintance with the things he writes about, not possessed by 
the writers of much more ambitious books on the subject. The valuable part of 
his work is the information he gives to the young collector as to likely places for 
specific forms of fresh-water Alga;. He is, moreover, well versed in the more 
scientific aspect of his subject, though perhaps rather daring in the analogies he 
draws between these low forms and higher plants. Perhaps in a future edition 
the author may see his way to recommending the one-sixth inch objective for a 
high power in place of the quarter-inch ; to giving directions for more frequent 
examinations on the ordinary slide or hanging drop rather than in the line box, 
and for mounting specimens. We heartily wish the book earnest students and 
many of them. 
We continue to receive each month the Field Club (Elliot Stock), ably 
edited by the Rev. Theodore Wood, who has just been elected a member of the 
Council of the Selborne Society. Some perfervid Selbornians seem to think the 
typical “ Field Clubman is a mere greedy spoliator of Nature. Even if this 
rather uncharitable estimate were true, such a creature could not fail to learn 
better things from the magazine provided for his benefit. 
SELBORNIANA. 
“ Porriwiggles.” — Miss A. M. Buckton writes from Weycombe, Hasle- 
niere ; — “ The following extract from a letter of Lord Tennyson’s may be of interest 
to the readers of Nature Notes: — ‘ Farringford, Feb. 5th, 1S90 
