i88i.] 
( 37 
ANALYSES OF BOOKS. 
Ponds and Ditches, By M. C. Cooke, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S. 
254pp., i2mo. London: Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge. 
This little book forms one of a series of “ Natural History Ram- 
bles.” The increased interest felt in all natural history subjects 
has caused a demand for a class of works giving instruction to 
those for whom a student’s manual would be unsuitable. Such 
a book is always difficult to write in a satisfactory manner, need- 
ing perhaps as thorough aquaintance with a subjeCt as is re- 
quired for a work of far greater pretensions. 
Dr. Cooke has succeeded in writing in a popular and pleasing 
manner, and yet without in any way sacrificing the interests of 
science. The first fourteen chapters are equally divided between 
plants and animals, the fifteenth is devoted to the subjects of 
collecting and examining. The headings are — Still Waters, 
Flowering Plants, Plants Without Flowers, Fresh-water Algae, 
Desmids, Diatoms, Low-life (Protozoa), Hydras, Fresh-water 
Polyzoa, Rotifers, Leeches and Worms, Spiders, Mites and 
Water Bears, Water-fleas, Aquatic Larvae, and Collecting and 
Examining. Attention is directed principally to those objects 
which are likely to be most commonly met with ; good figures 
are given which will aid greatly in the recognition of the various 
forms of vegetable and animal life. 
Those who have had the good fortune to meet the author at 
one of the excursions of the Quekett Club will recognise his 
happy style of making himself at home with those who know 
little or nothing, and leaving them possessed of a considerable 
amount of practical information. The matter of the very interest- 
ing conversations in the field or at the tea-table after the excur- 
sion and a good deal more has here been reproduced. 
The book is a pleasant one to read, the references to places 
where fuller details may be obtained are abundant; much infor- 
mation is given relating to obscure plants and animals, such as 
the algse, the worms and rotifers, which would have to be 
searched for through the pages of many books and periodical 
publications. The book is not only one in every way suitable 
for beginners, but may be read with profit by those somewhat 
more advanced in microscopical studies. 
