214 
NA TURE NOTES 
whom is the Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace intended. There is an unpleasantly 
Welsh look about “ Llamellibranchiata ” (p. 99) : the account of the so-called 
“ Laurentian ” is altogether inadequate, there being no such rocks in Glouces- 
tershire (p. 108), whilst Eozoon should not now be mentioned as organic, 
without qualification. The Oligocene appearing as “ Fluvio-marine Series” 
under Eocene ; the Bovey beds as Miocene, and the Lenham, St. Erth, Cromer, 
Westleton and Mundesley beds being omitted, the work can hardly be termed 
“up-to-date.” The absence of any indication of scale to the figures, so that 
Textularia appears equal in size to Pectunculus, and the comparative incomplete- 
ness of the Index, from which, for example, we notice the absence of “ Lacco- 
lites ” and “ Thrust-planes,” are serious defects in what might have been made a 
most complete introduction to geology. 
The Truth about the Game Laws. By J. Connell. With a preface by Robert 
Buchanan. Humanitarian League, 1898, pp. 85. Brice 6d. 
This is undoubtedly a strong, though temperately worded, indictment of the 
whole of our Game Laws, based largely upon the report of the Select Committee 
of the House of Commons in 1845-6. We quote the following summary from 
the concluding chapter: — “We have shown that the outcome of the game-pre- 
serving system is a very serious diminution of the food supply of the people, by 
the destruction of crops, the difficulties placed in the way of improved methods 
of farming, and the hindrances to the reclamation of waste lands which might be 
made productive. We have shown that game as food forms no sensiLle set-off to 
these disadvantages, and that the administration of the Game Laws by the very 
people who preserve the game (administered by any other class they would soon 
fall into disuse) leads to decisions dictated not so much by the evidence adduced, 
or the demands of justice and humanity, as by the strong feeling and excitement 
inseparable from the chase and all that belongs to it. Sentences of fine and 
imprisonment not warranted by the Acts, harsh as are the latter, frequently call 
for the intervention of the Home Office, and show the demoralisation of the 
magisterial mind. We have shown that this severity almost invariably impresses 
the labourers with the idea that they are the victims of injustice. Knowing that 
game preserving is frequently the cause of the want of employment from which 
they suffer, and being accustomed from childhood to regard the game as nobody’s 
property, the harsh administration of these laws inspires them with a spirit of 
revolt which is as dangerous as it is avoidable. We have shown that the game 
cannot be guarded without an expenditure of human blood for which no amuse- 
ment can ever compensate. We have shown that the practice of killing game for 
amusement inspires even educated men with a pride in sanguinary feats which 
would disgust many professional butchers. . . . Finally, we have shown that 
the net result of the whole system is that the game, which is bred and reared 
artificially, and to an unnatural extent, in order that it may be killed, can only 
be preserved in sufficient numbers to satisfy the landowners by destroying many 
beautiful animals, which, if allowed to live, would have maintained Nature’s 
balance. . . . There is but one remedy for the evils enumerated in this 
pamphlet, and that is to sweep the Game Laws away. A moment’s consideration 
will show that the evils are inseparable from the operation of the laws, and that 
no modification of the latter can do more than mitigate the former. The only 
remedy is abolition.” 
Lectures for Children. By Mrs. Suckling. Humanitarian League: Useful 
Birds, Frogs and Toads, The Spider, The Ant. Brice 4d. each, net. 
These clearly printed notes for lantern lectures seem well adapted for their 
purpose, though we do not quite gather the utility of the illustrations, which are 
not in themselves very good. Considering the abundant marvels of Nature, we 
hope that care will be taken to admit none but true anecdotes into this series of 
lectures. Some of the verse is hardly worth printing. 
Report and Transactions of the South-eastern Union of Scientific Societies for 
1898. Taylor and Francis. 8vo., pp. xxiv. and 117- Brice 2s. unbound, 3s. in 
cloth. 
Considering that the South-eastern Union has only just completed the second 
year of its existence, it may certainly be congratulated on the goodly proportions 
