27 AUGUST 1904, Page 23

The Natural History of Cambridgeshire. Edited by J. E. Marr,

F.R.S., and A. E. Shipley, F.R.S. (Cambridge University Press. 4s. net.)—This volume is published contemporaneously with the Cambridge meeting of the British Association. The Physi- ography, Geology, Palaeontology (of Vertebrates), Zoology (it is noticeable that the "Insects" are treated by no less than six experts), Flora, and Prehistoric Archaeology are the subjects of successive chapters. It is difficult to make a choice among the many interesting topics which these divisions suggest. The Palaeontology is specially important. Cambridgeshire is highly favoured in this direction. One practical form by which 3041,: people were much enriched a generation ago was the coprolite deposit. Besides this, many remains of early animals have been discovered. In vestiges of prehistoric man the county does not particularly abound, though its neighbour, Suffolk, contains Brandon, where flints were till recently manufactured for guns, as they were once manufactured for arrows, an almost unique instance of succession. Of birds, whether inhabitants, or visitors, frequent, occasional, or rare, there are some two hundred and forty species, about two-thirds of the total with which the whole island is credited. Of mammals, there are bats, shrew-mice, pole- cats, foxes, otters, stoats, and weasels ; but the county is not suited as a home for the larger sorts. There is a long list of fishes; but the salmon is wanting, and the salmon trout has not been seen for more than half-a-century. Trout are " plentiful in the south of the county." Of ." coarse fish" there is a great abundance. The flora shows an interestingly large proportion of Germanic plants.