NATURE NOTES 
78 
four years of school life, on the weather, plants, animals and 
stones, with references to poetry, classical weather-myths, and 
books containing more detail, all put before the teacher in the 
most practical form possible. I wish we had a similar book for 
our English schools. The Editor. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
A Sketch of the Natural History ( Vertebrates ) of the British Islands. By F. G. 
Aflalo, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. (Blackwoods), 8vo., 6s. nett. 
Our space does not permit us to say much at present about this excellently 
planned work. As the author says in his preface, there is up to the present no 
single volume on the subject, and our local secretaries who have branch libraries 
will find this an indispensable work for their shelves. We expect to refer to it 
almost daily. It includes lists of our mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and 
fish with their scientific names ; a map, four full-page illustrations, and seventy 
smaller ones, mostly excellent, and many of them from the pencil of Mr. G. E. 
Lodge ; a bibliography, and a list of local natural history societies. Altogether 
we feel much indebted to Mr. Aflalo and Messrs. Blackwood for this work. We 
notice with some surprise that, though the author refers to Mr. E. N. Buxton’s 
“ Epping Forest,” he does not mention the distinct race of fallow-deer or the 
introduced roe-deer and badgers of that woodland. 
The Naturalist' s Directory , 1898 (Upcott Gill) 8vo., is. 
Though inevitably containing many errors of omission and misprinting, this 
useful directory, now in its fourth year, is a distinct improvement upon its pre- 
decessors and well worth its modest price. 
The Animals' Friend for March is an excellent number of our esteemed con- 
temporary. A short article on the nut-hatch is charmingly illustrated from a 
photograph, and Miss Carrington’s Children's Supplement contains an impressive 
letter on gold-fish in globes and some pretty verses on the horse. 
In Knowledge for March, Mr. Vaughan Jennings continues his “Botanical 
Studies” with an illustrated article on Coleochate ; the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing 
continues “ The Karkinokosm, or World of Crustacea ; ” and Mr. Enock begins 
a series of articles on “British Bees.” 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Hornets, Wasps and Bees. — One sunny morning in the autumn, as I was 
watching a number of wasps and bees on a patch of thyme, a hornet appeared on 
the scene, and at once attempted to secure a dinner by trying to seize them with 
its legs as they were engaged in rifling a flower — much in the same way as a wasp 
treats a fly. After one or two onslaughts the wasps disappeared ; not so the bees, 
which went away as they were pounced upon one by one. The behaviour of the 
bees in the presence of their arch enemy was curious. There was no attempt at 
resistance or combination to drive off the intruder, but when knocked over by the 
hornet, a fussy exhibition of fear and precipitate flight. When all had been 
driven away the hornet settled down on a leaf to await their return, and, by the 
movements of its antennae and quivering of its body, clearly showed its excite- 
ment when its prey came near. But all to no purpose, and, failing to secure a 
meal, the hornet flew away. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Hornets, Cockchafers, &c.— In Nature Notes for January, and 
also in the February number, there is some interesting information about hornets. 
Will some correspondent kindly tell me something of their prevalence in different 
parts of England ? I will state briefly my own experience. The early part of my 
life was spent on a farm in Norfolk. Hornets were certainly common there, and 
