A Naturalist in Tasmania. By Geoffrey Smith, M.A. (The Clarendon
Press. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Geoffrey Smith has made a very pleasant and readable book out of his scientific researches in Tasmania. First, he gives us by way of introduction a history of the island. Tasman was sent to discover an imaginary South Laud of incalculable richness in the Southern Seas, and ho found the island, first called after the originator of the expedition Van Diemen, and now more justly assigned to the discoverer. The melancholy part of this story is the fate of the aborigines. It was but a small population,--not exceeding, it is supposed, two thousand when the English came, It has now entirely disappeared. It was a race of some capacity. The book itself is devoted to descriptions of the fauna and flora of the island, descriptions given with much literary skill, and pleasantly diversified with the personal experiences of the author. Tasmania is more favoured by Nature than its groat neighbour Australia. It can even boast a native tiger, and its streams and lakes had not to be peopled from Europe. The volume is amply illustrated.
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