248 
NATURE NOTES 
and insectivorous plants, to edible bird’s-nests, flexible sandstone and meteorites, 
we were on the point of dismissing the book as a child’s guide to the Natural 
History Museum, excerpted from the best modern authorities, when we lit upon 
the interesting original observation which is illustrated by the accompanying 
figure. These rings are, it seems, formed by the clay-logged seed-vessels on the 
top of the stems of wiry grass as they gyrate in the wind, weighed down as they 
MECHANICAL PRODUCTS OF NATURE. 
(From “ Nature, Curious and Beautiful,” by permission ot the Religious Tract 
Society.) 
are in the white mud on flooded meadows by the Shannon. The language is not 
always simple enough for a “ reader ” for children under twelve ; but if read to 
them and explained, we know of no work which would serve so well as a prepara- 
tion for a visit to our national Natural History Museum. 
Popular Natural History of the Lower Animals ( Invertebrates ). By Henry 
Scherren. With 168 illustrations. Religious Tract Society. Price 3s. 6d. 
One of the objects of the Selborne Society is to promote the study of natural 
history. The technical work of the anatomical laboratory may not be to every- 
one’s taste ; but everyone probably would, if given the least opportunity, develop 
an interest in living beings ; and it is this interest in living plant or animal that 
we wish to encourage. Mr. Scherren has shown himself admirably fitted as a 
writer for this missionary work. Most popular “Natural Histories,” as he says, 
deal at length only with the higher, i.e., the vertebrate animals; but he has 
found plenty to do in compressing a readable account of the invertebrates into 
a volume of less than three hundred pages. He, as we think, wisely gives his 
readers, most of whom may be expected to be juvenile, but a small modicum of 
