196 
NATURE NOTES 
and Tennyson’s Aniphion are all here ; so that one is greedy for 
more, and resents the absence of Mrs. Browning on the Linden, 
and William Howitt on the HaAvthorn. A list of “ supple- 
mentary reading” is given, which would have been more useful 
if some bibliographical reference to the whereabouts of the 
passages had been given. The notes are unpretentious, and 
well chosen for school use, and a list of historical American 
trees is well calculated to arouse a feeling of national pride in 
the arboreal glories of the land ; but, with the exception of that 
of the trunk of a Paper Birch and one or two others, the illus- 
trations do not strike us as distinctive, attractive, or good 
enough for the book. Excellent type, a sensible binding, and 
an absence of an undue weight make the book most desirable ; 
and we are glad to think that a very large part of it can be read 
and appreciated in our own schools. As the compilers truly say 
in their preface, “ there is no result of Nature study that does 
so much to transform well-known scenes as a knowledge of the 
trees ; and an important aid to this larger vision is familiarity 
with the thoughts of the great writers on these most majestic 
specimens of the plant world.” 
G. S. Boulger. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
The Early Life of the Young Cuckoo. By W. Percival Westell. Thomas 
Burleigh, 376, Strand. Price is. net. 
With a convenient summary of our knowledge on the subject, this brochure 
has the great additional interest of four photographs taken direct from nature by 
Mr. J. Peat Millar, showing — in spite of the many unscientifically positive denials 
of the fact that we heard a short time ago — the young parasitic bird in the act 
of ejecting its fuster-brother from the nest. There could hardly be a more 
conclusive piice de conviction. 
European Fungus Flora : Agaricacea. By George Massee, F.L.S. Duckworth 
and Co. Price 6s. net. 
This most concise and critical work comprises in less than 250 pages descrip- 
tions of 2,750 European species, of which 1,553 known to be Biilish. This 
brevity has only been obtainable by the use of abbte\iaiions ; but these are few 
and self-explanatory ; whilst this is the first geneial flora of European Agarics to 
be written in English. It is purely descriptive, nitntior.ing taste and odour, but 
saying nothing as to distrilmtion, lieyond the indication ol whether a species is, 
or is not, known to be British. Mr. Massee’s position as a mycologist would 
render any technical criticism dangerous to the critic, even if this were the place 
for it or the width of ground covered left it possible. We presume that the 
Index, in which the generic names are degraded to abbreviated, bracketed and 
secondary position, though it seems calculated to perpetuate the provoking 
practice of mycologists and entomologists of referring to species by their specific 
names alone, is the best way of dealing with a difficult problem. Paper, type, 
printing and binding leave nothing to he desired, though we notice one obvious 
slip (on p. 245), where Fries’ suhgenera are spoken of as raised to specific {sic) 
rank. We wish Mr. Massee could have found room for a reference to a figure of 
each species ; but are extremely grateful to him for the valuable work he has 
given us. It is an interesting testimony to the painstaking labours of British men 
