8 APRIL 1876, Page 23

Nuttall's Spelling - Bee Guide. (Warne and Co.)—A. really useful " Guide

" would not contain "five thousand difficult words of the English language." Any person really wanting to be guided in per- forming the duties of an interrogator at a spelling-bee would be lost in this volume. How is he to know what words he is justified in asking, and what he should reject? What is the good of suggesting to him such words as " Gurhofile," a form of magnesian carbonate of lime found near Gurloof ; or " hymenonoyeetes," which, we are told, is "a tribe or order of fungi "? A list of a thousand good words, which should include only such technical terms as are really popularised, and may therefore fairly be asked of educated people, would be really useful, but to go through the dictionary and select every puzzling term is not what is wanted.