Our Reptiles. By M. C. Cooke. With original figures of
every species and numerous woodcuts. (Hardwicke.)—This is one of Mr.
Hardwieke's pleasant little volumes of popular natural history. The
author makes no pretensions to anything more than "'the production of a popular volume ona rather unpopular subject, and -the espousal of the
cause of a much abused and scandalized class, the newts, to wit, toads, frogs, &c., indigenous to Great Britain." He writes in a very slipshod style, but the anecdotic matter introduced is interesting enough. Wo are rather surprised attire number of points that he leaves undetermined, whether, for exanaple, the edible frog and the green lizard are or are not natives of this island, whether the viper swallows its young, and what the troth is in the matter of frog showers and toad incarcerations. The book, however, is very readable, the plates are fair, and there is .a good index, giving the scientific classification and the various aliases of I the reptiles described.
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