5 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 34

MENAGERIES, CIRCUSES AND THEATRES. By E. H. Bostock, J.P., F.Z.S.

(Chapman and Hall. 18s.)—Is Mr. Rostock " the Barnum of Britain ? " The Member for Paisley says so in his foreword. Mr. Bostock says so in his book. Yet there remains this difference. Barnum had no conscience. He revelled in hoaxes. The only sin lay in being found out. Mr. Rostock, for the rare occasions on which he was compelled, for righteous motives, to resort to subterfuge, does public penance. The adventures of a lion in the sewers of Birmingham, the ruse employed for his (supposed) recapture, and the gratitude of an elephant to a chemist four years after the administration of a dose, afford interludes in the monotonous description of the travels and financial ventures of a great showman.