Wild Animals Photographed and Described. Illustrated by photo- type representations
of photographic negatives taken from life. By Major J. Forten4 Nott. (Sampson Low and Co.)—This is one of those beautiful books which are the despair of all who strive to place the popular knowledge of natural history on a sound footing; but as these form only a small class of the community, we doubt not that Major Nott'a volume will find plenty of admirers. He has culled his anecdotes widely, for the most part with discrimination, and strung them, on the whole, with skill ; but when he essays remarks of his own, the kind critic had best be silent. In hie preface, the author admits that he is no scientific man—a confession quite needless, since that fact is shown on almost every page ; and to speak our own mind, no scientific man ought to review this book, for the evident desire of the author to urge goodwill towards beasta is insufficient to excuse his ill-treatment of them from a naturalist's point of view. Two things are, however, deserving of praise,—Major Nott's industry in searching for nnhaokneyed passages to quote, and his comments (pp. 192.3) on Mr. Palgrave's interpretation of the revengeful feelings ascribed to a camel. Far too many people, even among the highest class of zoologists, are given to set themselves up as " thought readers" in regard to animals, and hence we are always inclined to regard with suspicion many stories of presumed intelli- gence, which are capable of being explained in a very different way. A captious critic might complain that, though the title of this work is Wild Animals, all the subjects of the illustrations are animals in captivity,—most of them in the Zoologioal Gardens. The photo- graphs have not the sharp outlines which naturalists love, but exhibit the soft appearance that is eo dear to the restIsete of this generation, and from his point of view, are therefore to be highly commended.
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