SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
1 1 1 
LOCAL NAMES. BOTANICAL NAMES. 
Cain and Abel . . . Orchis mascula 
+ Flea wood ... ... Myrica Galt 
Wullies ... ... Willows 
Whickans .. ... Knotgrass 
''Lady’s soap ... Conferva rivularis 
Bagie ... ... Swede turnip 
*Buntins Fir cones 
Cuddie’s lugs ... Verbascum Thapsus 
* The names marked thus are not included in the Dictionary of English Plant 
names. 
t Sprigs of Bog Myrtle are frequently placed amongst bed-clothes by the 
Northumbrian house-wife as a cure for fleas. 
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
The Paradise of Birds , by J. W. Courthope. A new edition of this book 
appeared some months ago, and should be w’elcome to Selbornians. It tells, in 
light and pleasant verses, of the adventures of two Arctic explorers, whose aim 
is not to gain glory by reaching the Pole, but to penetrate the snowy region sur- 
rounding it, and enter the Paradise of Birds, a warm and sunny region, where 
dwell unmolested the souls of all kinds of feathered fowl. After the destruction 
of the whole race through the wantonness of mankind, the world is becoming 
uninhabitable for want of them, and the mission of the two travellers is by 
humble entreaty to obtain from the happy birds’ souls, eggs which they may carry 
back and hatch for the benefit of the bird-forsaken world. They obtain their 
request, and promise that in future birds shall not be ill-used, but that great 
respect shall be paid to them and their requirements. Outside this paradise is a 
purgatory, where the souls of those who have offended against bird-life are 
punished ; and here, as is meet, are found the souls of bird-catchers, cooks and 
— ladies. The birds’ songs are delightfully translated into words, and their 
tributes to Aristophanes — 
“ Dearest and best of beakless singers, 
Friend of the linnet, glory of Greece — ” 
to Chaucer and to Gilbert White are quaintly and gracefully written. 
British Fossils and where to Seek Them , by Joseph W. Williams. Young 
Collector Series. Swan Sonnenschein, London: 1890. British Fossils is a 
work of some ninety six pages, which purports to give a summary of the leading 
features of distribution and succession of the fossiliferous rocks of Great Britain. 
It enumerates the fossils characteristic of each formation, mentions localities 
where they may be found, and gives hints to the young collector. As a rule, the 
author keeps too closely to some well-known text books to go seriously astray, 
but as soon as he strikes out for himself he comes sadly to grief. Thus in the 
glossary he calls chert a limestone, while mica and garnet are both “rocks.” 
Etymology is apparently the author’s strong point, and here he is often strik- 
ingly original, as when he derives the “ horn ”of hornblende from its toughness, 
instead of from the German for metal. There are a good number of illustrations, 
but though these well served their purpose in the German text book from which 
they have been copied, they are quite out of place in a work on British fossils, as 
so many of them are of foreign species. Thus not one of the twelve species 
figured on page 46 has been found in the British Isles. Misprints abound in the 
scientific names, and these sometimes make the words quite unrecognisable. The 
work contains none of that infectious enthusiasm which makes Taylor’s Common 
British Fossils so valuable a book to place in the hands of the young collector, 
while for accuracy and usefulness the older book is greatly superior. 
