Reviews and Book Xoticcs. 
103 
The Beasts, Birds, and Bees of Virgil. A Naturalist's Handbook to 
the Georgies. By T. F. Royds, M.A., B.D. Oxford : B. H. Blackwell, 
1914, pp. 107, 3s. (id. net. This book is all it professes to be by its title, 
and is charmingly written and scholarly withal. Twentieth century 
naturalists will do well to peruse it and profit thereby. There is a preface 
by Mr. \Y. Warde Fowler. 
The Further Evolution of Man. By W. H. Calvert. London A. C. 
Fifield, pp. 324, 5s. net. The author attributes the origin of his book to 
the help given by associating with the fine intellectual vigour and acumen 
of the minds of the Shakespeare Club of Montrose, without which it would 
never have appeared. He especially thanks the Secretary, a Clergyman, 
for his views on good and evil, punishment and imprisonment. He will 
have none of the Doctrine of Malthus and Darwin (who are bracketed 
throughout) and with the aid of innumerable quotations (more or less 
appropriate) from Shakespeare, The Scotsmon, and the Bible, he 
believes that ‘ Darwinism, Malthusianism and natural selection — so long 
the accepted creeds of science — have been weighed in the balances and 
found wanting.’ His arguments — or shall we say his opinions, extend 
to over 300 closely printed pages, to which we must refer any of our readers " 
who may be interested. 
History of Conisborough. From the Earliest Ages, by C. H. Allport. 
Sheffield : Independent Press, Ltd., 96 pp., 6d. From the front cover of 
this History we learn that ‘ There was not in all the world a burg so 
fair,’ and from the back the 1 Best brewed beers in Britain,’ are from 
Sheffield. Possibly both are exaggerated. Though the pamphlet con- 
tains less than a hundred pages, only half of that relates to the ‘ History,’ 
the other half being occupied by advertisements for funerals and weddings, 
rabbits, stout, beef, bricks, soap, tea, bottles, whisky, boots, etc., which 
we are sorry to say, cannot be torn out, as they are printed on the back 
of the letterpress. A little while ago we had the misfortune to have to 
listen to a lecture on Prehistoric Man. The lecturer dealt with the nebular 
hvpothesis, etc., and the geological history of the earth from the earliest 
times, and after nearly two hours’ talk the gas in the lantern fortunately 
gave out, and ‘ prehistoric man ’ did not arrive. Similarly, in his anxiety 
for thoroughness, we fear that Mr. Allport has not told us quite as much 
about Conisborough as we should have liked ; but, like the man at the 
piano, we must not shoot him as he is doing his best. We commence with 
Pooh Bah in the Opera, and The Beginning of All-port — we mean all 
things. Next, we have the pedigree of Brutus, the ‘ Discoverer of 
Britain,’ direct from Noah, and it is interesting to notice that only after 
quite a long array of names do we find that one was ‘ married.’ Next we 
have ‘ another version ’ — the ‘ genealogy of Brutus ’ — ‘ Romulus and 
Remus,’ and ‘ Saturn ’ (‘ King of the Greeks ’) to the founders of Rome. 
It is not stated whether any of these were married or not ! We then 
come to 1 The Brito-Roman Period,’ when ‘ David was singing his psalms 
in Jerusalem to the accompaniment of the harp, flute, dulcimer, etc,’ 
when King Ebraucus ‘ apparently anxious to find occupation for his 
family (20 sons and 30 daughters !) decided to build two cities. One of 
these was York and the other apparently was well, we are not quite sure, 
but we believe it is thought to be Conisborough. Next we have a pedigree 
from ‘ ? ’ — (a very doubtful starter) and Arthur, apparently son of 
1'tha Pendragon. Then an advertisement for Celebrated Beers and Stout, 
.followed by Chapter IV. ‘ Early Struggles,’ and so on. But after a 
while we really reach Conisborough, when a species of Guy Fawkes, dressed 
in straw, is labelled ‘ The Village Pump,’ and a block obviouslv upside 
down is labelled, ‘ carving of pillars.’ A little later we learn (p. 73) ‘ the 
probability is that the man had been drinking, and ‘ saw snakes ’ ? 
Anyway, the pamphlet is worth the ‘ saxpence.’ 
1911 Mar. 1. 
