Some Nature Biographies. By John J. Ward. With upwards of
200 Illustrations reproduced from Photographs and Photo- micrographs taken by the Author. (John Lane. 5s. net.)— Among recent books that can be recommended to the amateur dabbler in natural history we must assign a special place to Some Nature Biographies. In a series of unconnected chapters, which have been collected from various periodicals, Mr. Ward gives the life-history of a number of butterflies and moths. He writes also in the same pleasant and informing manner on the development of buds, the decay and fall of leaves, the senses of insects, and the story of a piece of coal. Each chapter or article is illustrated with great numbers of excellent and original photographs taken by the author. Many of these are "photomicrographs"—that is, reproductions of things seen through the microscope—well calculated to reveal some of the hidden wonders of Nature. There are some two hundred photographs reproduced in the text, and it is a pleasure to find a book of this nature printed on unglazed and toned paper which is offensive neither to the sight nor the touch. Mr. John Lane has earned our gratitude if other publishers should be induced to follow his example. One of the most interesting of Mr. Ward's chapters is that on the swallow-tail butterfly and the parasitic ichneumon- fly which preys upon it. There are few things more absorbing in Nature than the study of protective colours and markings, and none more remarkable than the spots on the larva of the lobster moth (Stauropus fagi), which, it is suggested, imitate the stings of ichneumons when egg-depositing, and so protect the larva from the attacks of these parasites, which select a fresh and healthy host for their progeny to prey on.
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