170 
NATURE NOTES 
communicate with the Belgian Government. The Belgian 
Minister of Agriculture and Public Works now writes that the 
Government has no control over the vessels of transport, and 
cannot see how the transporters of these old horses can be dealt 
with ; but he adds that the laudable object of putting an end to 
the traffic or of preventing the cruelty of it would best be attained 
if the British Government would forbid the embarkation of any 
old and worn-out horses incapable of bearing the passage. 
Further, such a step would not only put an end to the shocking 
sight of the march of these unhappy creatures to the place of 
shipment, but would at the same time “ check the spread of 
glanders, from which we find so many suffer here.” The view 
taken of the matter by the Belgian Minister is supported by Sir 
Howard Vincent, who, after a careful survey and personal 
inquiry in Holland and in Belgium, says : “ I repeat, and most 
emphatically, that the fault is British, and only British. It is 
for the British Government to act in Great Britain and, if need 
be, abroad, through its diplomatic and consular officers.” The 
gauntlet is thus fairly thrown down. The House of Commons 
is in a humane mind, as evidenced by its action in regard to the 
osprey plumes and the white heron of Florida. Will no member 
of Parliament come forward to pick it up in defence of the out- 
worn servants of the land, the horses in whose welfare we take 
a national pride ? 
H. D. Rawnsley. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
The Mammals , Reptiles , and Fishes of Essex : A Contribution to the Natural 
History of the County. By Ilenry Laver, M.R.C.S., F.S.A., F.L.S. With 
eight full page and two half page illustrations. (Essex Field Club Special 
Memoirs, vol. iii., 1898.) 
The Essex Field Club is to be congratulated in having, by the addition of 
this volume from the pen of Dr. Laver to Mr. Christy’s “ Birds of Essex ”■ — the 
second volume in the same series of special memoirs, issued in 185c — given to 
the world a complete catalogue of the vertebrate fauna of the county. The 
present volume is a good deal more than a catalogue, though we should have 
been glad of an even fuller account of some of the more interesting animals, the 
deer and the viper, for instance. Is Dr. Laver correct in stating (p. 5) that “ the 
only extinct British mammals of whose existence in Essex we have any direct 
proof, are the wild swine, the wolf, and possibly the beaver?” or does he mean 
“ recently extinct ” ? There is no doubt about the former abundance of the 
heaver, as pointed out by Dr. Woodward (“ The Ancient Fauna of Essex,” 
Trans. Essex Field Club, vol. iii., p. 8), but, though these are beyond the scope 
of Dr. Laver’s work, the same author also records the horse, reindeer, elk, 
goat, brown bear, hippopotamus, musk-ox, marmot, and several species of ox, 
rhinoceros and elephant, and we think others might be added from the Wallon- 
on-the-Naze Crag. Dr. Laver’s “ Introduction” (p. 4) contradicts, we fear, his 
text (pp. 73-74), the red deer “ brought back front Windsor to re-stock Epping 
Forest ” having since been destroyed ; but perhaps the small herd at Takeley 
Forest, also mentioned on p. 74, may maintain the claim of the species to a place 
in the wild fauna of the county. The value of this interesting volume is much 
enhanced by its charming illustrations, mostly from the pencil of Mr. II. A. 
Cole. We hope that in a future edition a table of the species recorded will be 
added. 
