Analyses of Books . 
[March, 
174 
mentioned. We should like to see German " t0 ^f’ of 
stone-ware tiles, introduced in all houses hereafter built or rebuilt. 
By this step we should reduce the consumption of coal l and he 
production of smoke by 75 per cent, and give the London coal-nn 0 
its death blow. 
<< 
Our Corner. A Monthly Magazine of Fiction, Poetry, Politics, 
Science, Art, Literature. Vol. V., Nos. i and 2. January 
and February, 1885. 
A Southern Shell,” by Mr. W. Mawer, is a pleasing study of 
06 A^a continuation of “ Our Household Pests ” comes a chapter 
on the Snider which, by the way, has but doubtful claims to 
rank as a pest/ We do not, like the author, “ really feel conscious 
of a kind Of revengeful sentiment upon seeing a spider pounce 
eagerly upon a struggling fly, gnat, or other dipteron. We a e 
too Mad of any aid in thinning those colporteurs of infection an 
pollutfon° the two-winged flies. But if Madame Arachne entraps 
a bee a butterfly, or a beetle, we draw a distindhon, and think 
f h f t the strong-minded lady is acting in excess of her rights. 
But useful as s °piders are, they are scarcely to be loved. When 
shall we know the nature of their poison . 
The same author next discusses the cockroach, which is be- 
vold all contradiaion a “ household pest.” The author points 
out with perfect accuracy the charaMers, morphological and 
embryological, which prove that the cockroach is not a beetle. 
Rut he will only lose his labour. 
B Why is it, we often ask, that foreign weeds and foreign vermin 
easily let acclimatised in any country, whilst harmless, beautiful, 
or useful species scarcely ever become truly naturalised . 1 he 
cockroach and the bed-bug, both aliens, have made themselves 
quite at home in Britain. But all attempts to introduce Cardbus 
auratus (Le jardinier ) and Calosoma sycophanta have failed. 
Both these inseCts are useful to the farmer and the gardener 
both are beautiful, and both are fairly common on the Cont.nent 
Nay why is it that in spite of all our exertions the foulest weed 
hold’ their ground in our midst, while botanists in all paits 
the kingdom lament that lovely plants, such as many of the 
fe w;"y^hife° n wHf The IO q n uestion -raised under - Science 
Corner ” When will the resources of Science be used only 
for the preservation, not for the destruftion, of life ? Men, not 
