246 
NATURE NOTES 
before Parliament. This is intended to make Nature-study 
compulsory instead of permissible in elementary schools. While 
regarding the economic aspects of the matter, Mr. Jesse Codings 
by no means minimizes the purely educational value of Nature- 
study, and there is little doubt but that the measure will pass 
unopposed. 
What photography can do in the way of portraying Nature 
was particularly well shown with illustrated lectures by Messrs. 
Kearton, Lodge and Pike. Their pictures showed most beauti- 
fully how a creature appears at the moment of exposure, while 
the Urban - Duncan Microbioscope, described by Mr. Martin 
Duncan himself on two occasions, brought before the audiences 
continuous photographic records of such things as Hydra and 
Volvox, and the circulation of protoplasm under the microscope, 
as well as chameleons and toads feeding. 
One evening was devoted to a meeting of the Selborne 
Society, at which Mr. George Avenell (Chairman of Council) 
presided. Professor Boulger delivered an address on the “Study 
of Living Plants,” illustrated by some very beautiful photographs, 
urging that at all seasons the observation of plants living amid 
their natural surroundings might be so encouraged as to create 
a love of Nature. 
Afterwards Mr. E. A. Martin spoke on “ Open Spaces and 
Green Fields,” and gave a very interesting account of the origin 
of common lands and the various ways by which lords of the 
manor and others had got possession of them. 
Thanks to numerous subscribers and the good attendance of 
visitors at the Exhibition it has proved a financial success. 
Steps are being taken to hold another Exhibition in 1904, 
which will not be confined to the Home Counties, and a Nature 
Study Society is being formed for the purpose. This already 
includes a number of prominent Selbornians among its members 
and full particulars may be obtained from the undersigned at 20, 
Hanover Square. 
Wilfred Mark Webb. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
Bird Life in Wild Wales. By J. A. Walpole-Bond. Illustrated with photo- 
graphs by Oliver G. Pike. T. Fisher Unwin. Trice 7s. 6d. 
Sportsmen, when not actually engaged in the chase, are fond of recounting 
their former achievements, and so it is with the new sportsmen of the camera. 
Mr. Walpole-Bond, with no indiscreet revelation of exact localities, takes us for 
some exciting ornithological tramps in Wales, especially to the haunts of the 
kite, the buzzard, and the raven. It is somewhat comforting to read his 
assurances of the safety of these moribund species as recently as 1902. Tran- 
scribing his diary, the author occasionally wastes space over uninteresting 
trivialities and we wish he would have given an index to his book. There are 
sixty illustrations in the volume, almost all from the skilled camera of Mr. 
Oliver G. Pike. That of the kingfisher strikes us as of exceptional excellence, 
