POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY.* THE reviewer who reads through a dozen
books of popular natural history, or "Nature-books," to use the odious expres- sion which some publishers appear to prefer, would gladly see several favourite phrases blotted out -by an omnipotent censor. "The Wonderland of Nature" is one such phrase; "Dame Nature" is another "; and "Nature's Bairns" will serve as an instance of a third. Let us therefore begin by praising an author who uses none of these hackneyed forms.
There is so much that is new and interesting, so much to draw attention to, in Mr. F. W. L. Sladen's book on The Humble Bee that, in the space at our disposal, the task is difficult. He is an acknowledged authority, a painstaking observer, who now publishes, in semi-popular form, the results of many years' labour. He treats of all the British species of Botnbus and also the strange, parasitic genus Pszthyrus, which is among bees somewhat like a cuckoo among birds. He has a chapter, too, on other parasites, internal and external, which infest the bees and their nests. The very interesting account of the life- history, habits, and domestic economy of our humble-bees contains a vast number of observations some of which will be new even to specialists in Bombi. We observe that he is sceptical as to the well-known relations which Darwin suggested might exist between humble-bees and old maids. But the part of the book which contains most that is worthy of note describes his successes and his failures in attracting queens to artificial nests where they can be observed. These attempts at partial domestication date from the year 1905, and in one year Mr. Sladen laid down as many as seventy domiciles, though, of course, not all were taken possession of by queens. As a boy be bad tried and failed to get queens to breed in confinement. The result of years of experimenting has ended in perfecting, or nearly perfecting, the apparatus. As honey-makers, Bonibi are not worth domesticating ; but about their qualities as pets, or subjects of observation, Mr. Sladen is an enthusiast. The reader will share his delight at the doings of the tenants of his wood or tin domiciles. About half the work is devoted to a systematic description of our seventeen species of Bomb-us and the six British species of parasitic bees (Psithyrus). The book is well illustrated throughout ; but the coloured photographs of bees are of quite unusual excellence. It would be difficult to produce plates more lifelike and better coloured. There are notes which will be useful for collectors, and a good index.
There are many good popular books on insects, but little has been written about spiders, which form an extremely interesting subject. For this reason Mr. R. A. Ellis's Spider- land, written in a style intended for children, is welcome ; but the book would have been much better had he treated his spiders a little more seriously, and made it clear what species he is alluding to and in what part of the world it is found. This be sometimes fails to do ; and the absence of an index is a deplorable deficiency. Mr. Ellis has chosen to treat of spiders under the heads of "Young Aviators," "Huntsmen and Acrobats," "Gins Ingenious," and the like. But he is himself a careful and original observer, and he has drawn upon the writings of the late Dr. McCook, a well-known American authority. Nearly all Mr. Ellis's drawings are good, and many of his photographs are extremely good. The youthful reader will glean much about the natural history of spiders generally ; but should he, later, wish to pmsne his studies he will not find that Mr. Ellis has laid as sound or as • (1) The Humble Bee Its Life-history and how to Domesticate It. By F. W. L. Sladen, F.E.S. Illustrated with Photographs and Drawings by the Author, and 5 Coloured Plates otographed direct from Nature. London: Macmillan and Co. [16s. net. (2) Spiderland. By R. A. Ellis. With Photographs and Drawings by the Author. London : Cassell and Co. [3s. 6d. net.]—(3) Butterflies and Moths at 110114C and Abroad. By H. Rowland-Brown. MA., F.E.S. With 21 full-page plates. London : T. Fisher Unwin. [7s. 6d. net. _}---(4) Babes of the Wild. By Charles G. D. Roberts. With Coloured Frontispiece and 92 Plates by Warwick Reynolds. London, Cassell and Co. 16s. net.}-15) On Nature's mai: a Wunderbook of the Wild. By F. St. Mars. Illustrated by Ernest Avis. London: James Nisbet and Co. [6s. net.)— (6) Nature's Carol Singers. By Richard Kearton, F.Z.S., F.R.P.S. Illustrated with Photographs direct from Nature by Cherry and Richard Kearton. London Cassell and Co. [3s. 6d. net.]—(7) Wild Life in the West Highlands. By Charles Henry Alston. With Illustrations by A. Scott Rankin. Glasgow : J. IdacLehose and Sons. [6s. net.]—(8) The Book of the Tarpon. By A. W. Dimock. Illustrated with 93 Photographs by Julian Dimock. London: Frank Palmer. [7s. 6d. net.] — (9) Wild Flowers as they Grow. Photographed in colour direct from Nature by H. Essenhigh Corke. Descriptive text by (I. Clarke Nuttall. Fourth Series. London Cassell and Co. 15s. set.]- 110) British Plant-Galls: a Classified Text-Book of Cacidologg. By E. W. Swanton. Introduction by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, and 16 Coloured Plates by Mary K. Spittal. London: Methuen and Co. [7s. 65. (ll) The Giant and the Caterpillar and other Addresses to Y oung People. By John A. Hamilton. London: B. B. Allen:ova. [3s. 64. net.]
systematic a foundation as is possible even in a truly popular work.
A bulky volume which covers the ground sufficiently for a young lepidopterist may be mentioned next. Butterflies and Moths at Home and Abroad is by Mr. H. Rowland-Brown, a competent and a scientific entomologist, who aims at producing an elementary work. Such a book has many competitors in the field; but the coloured illustrations are fairly good, and there are instructive chapters on collecting, breeding, mimicry, and protective colouring. The bulk of the volume is devoted to a systematic account of the most notable species.
We leave the insect world and pass now to the higher vertebrates. Babes of the Wild is the title of the latest work by Mr. Charles G. D. Roberts, who is one of the best writers of animal stories now living. Nor do we doubt that youthful readers will thoroughly enjoy the Babe's questions and inter- ruptions, Uncle Andy's caustic retorts, Bill's omniscience, and the pleasant flavour of pine forest and bracken that pervades the atmosphere. When Mr. Roberts is writing about otters, minks, woodchucks, geese, and crows we are prepared to accept all he says as gospel truth. But when he comes to marine animals, we ask, How can he know or pretend to describe the thoughts and emotions of a squid and a swordfish, or even of a mammalian narwhal and whale P He certainly cannot have seen all that he describes ; and has he ever heard a whale break "into a deep booming bellow, as of a hundred bulls " ? Of course he has not. No one has. But Mr. Roberts is much too fine an artist to fall into the crude mistake of imputing purely human emotions to the lower animals. We have read a book in which rabbits had all the fine feelings of the country gentleman in whose park they lived. Mr. Roberts is never guilty of that. So we only ask, How can he know the feelings and thoughts of swordfishes P Another book of somewhat similar character comes next. Mr. F. St. Mars has collected from various magazines some of his animal stories and has called the volume On Nature's Trail. Colonel J. H. Patterson has contributed a highly laudatory introduction. Those who are not ashamed to admit that they like their natural history served up in the form of animal stories will agree with the praise which the author of The Man-eaters of Tsavo bestows. Mr. St. Mars writes a forcible, photographic, nervous language which usually avoids being pretentious or slangy. He dwells on the bloody and cruel character of animal life. But his beasts are strong and happy beasts. It was an original notion to make a half- tame puma escape in a deer forest, to introduce a mongoose into a larch wood, and to turn a wolverine loose to plague McTavish, the gamekeeper. Read at short intervals each story seems excellent. There must be sameness in a volume of them. This is one of the results of collecting journalistic work.
There is no need to recommend a new book from the prolific pen of Mr. Richard Kearton to his many admirers. Nature's Carol Singers consists of exceedingly popular matter, from which those who know nothing about birds may learn some- thing. The volume is profusely illustrated with Mr. Kearton's and his brother's clever photographs. Some are small and some full-page, but they would all be much more effective were they not reproduced on glazed paper. The text consists of a slender account of the appearance and habits of some fifty British song-birds arranged haphazard. We have called them "song-birds," but Mr. Kearton prefers to call them " winged- melodists," or "wee, feathered carol-singers." It is a strange preference, but not uncommon. When Mr. Kearton writes : "Some naturalists are of opinion that a cuckoo is able to lay an egg of any colour at will," one wonders what naturalists he can mean. He seems also to be unaware that the fact that the cuckoo puts her egg into the nest with her bill was known some seventy or more years ago, and was not discovered "quite recently." There are various statements in the book which might be criticized, but the bulk shows an intimate personal acquaintance with birds in the field and a genuine love of—shall we say—these feathered choristers in their gay surplices.
Our next work surveys a wider field. The pleasantly written series of essays which Mr. Charles Henry Alston has called Wild Life in the West Highlands cover a good amount of ground without making pretence of great originality. Some have already seen the light in the Scotsman. In the chapters on the wolf, the beaver, and the various aspects of bird-life Mr. Alston has freely acknowledged his debt to previous writers such as Mr. Harting and Mr. Harvie-Brown; but in his essay on the wild eat he does not seem to be acquainted with the late Dr. Hamilton's monograph. The writings, however, of naturalists like Mr. Alston are welcome and readable because they make accessible to the general reader matter which he would not otherwise be likely to know of. In his chapters on fish and fishing Mr. Alston decides that there is no such species as S. feroz, and that anglers exaggerate the colour- sense of fish. In this connexion he prints an amusing extract from Herbert Spencer's autobiography. The attractions of the volume are increased by some illustrations by Mr. Scott- Rankin, and as an appendix are printed an essay on the elephant and another on the kea. It should, however, be pointed out that the badger is a weasel and not, as Mr. Alston thinks, a bear.
We pass now to a book on fish and fishing. Mr. A. W. Dimock claims to have hooked, but not landed, his first tarpon in February 1882. This was three years before the recognition of the tarpon as a game fish. Now, with many years' experience, he describes in The Book of the Tarpon the excitements of the sport and the glories of the Florida coast in truly American style. "At first I thought the wonderful being was a mermaid, and as I noted her fierce display of activity and strength, I pitied the merman who came home late without a better excuse than a meeting of the lodge." His humour is not all so crude as this. Most of his fishing has been done from a fragile canoe, with a motor boat as an assistance. Boca Grande, on the west coast of Florida, is his favourite place, and June, July, and August are his favourite months. To the English reader the wonderful collection of ninety photo- graphs of leaping tarpon will be the most attractive feature of the book. The Captain, the Girl, the Author, and the Camera-man contribute their share to Mr. Dimock's stories; but the highest praise in the concoction of the volume must be awarded to the Camera-man. He has done his share of the work well.
A book on plants deserves mention on account of the excellence of the coloured photographs taken from nature by Mr. H. Essenhigh Corke. This is the fourth series of Wild Flowers as they Grow. The comments, or descriptive text, by Mr. G. Clarke Netball, are of a popular nature, with verse and folklore interlarded.
The next book deals with cecidology, which includes a study of botany and zoology. There are, perhaps for this reason, few cecidologists in this country. The work is described as a text-book, and will not be found amusing by the general reader who dabbles in natural history books ; but Mr. E. W. Swanton, in his British Plant-Galls, has done a useful piece of work, and though all the illustrations are good, the coloured figures by Miss Mary K. Spittal are quite excellent. But to praise the plates first does not imply that the text is inferior. Mr. Swanton, the Curator of Haslemere Museum, has the requisite knowledge of botany and entomology combined, and has succeeded in making his book fairly complete. Malpighi was one of the first who wrote on the strangely varied excrescences of plants; but only of recent years has any systematic work been done. Except Mr. Counold's we know of no semi-popular work on the subject, which is one that ought to attract those who desire to do some original observation. It has been ascertained that these growths and malformations are caused by gall-flies, saw- flies, beetles, lepidoptera, flies, plant-lice, mites, and even nematode worms, of those life-history much remains to be discovered. Other galls seem to be caused by fungi. Mr. Swanton's " Catalogue " is far fuller than any that has ever been published. He follows a botanical arrangement. He gives us a bibliography and an exceptionally full and well- compiled index.
Lastly, the sixty-two short addresses in Mr. John A. Hamilton's The Giant and the Caterpillar are intended for young people, and may be recommended to teachers. Most of them are written with some fact of natural history as a text. "Keep your eyes open and go on asking questions" is Mr. Hamilton's excellent advice. As Francis Bacon said, "God
condescends to play hide and-seek with men, concealing things in order that men may find them." The author is a Noncon- formist clergyman, and the readers he addresses are Sunday- school children; but theology is never unduly intrusive. The morals to be learnt are excellent. The science (zoology, botany, or geology) is generally sound, and the fables show a pleasant imagination which will capture the attention of the children.
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