(1) Junk's Natur-Führer Die Riviera (2) Einführung in die Erdbeben- und Vulkankunde Süditaliens (3) Cambridge County Geographies Merionethshire (4) The Madras Presidency With Mysore, Coorg, and the Associated States

Abstract

(1) THE first of Junk's Natur-Führer, Dalla Torre's volume devoted to Tirol, was reviewed in this journal in December, 1913 (vol. xcii., p. 471). Alban Voigt's treatment of the Riviera differs entirely from the method adopted by his predecessor. In Tirol we were given minute references to the objects of interest along roads and footpaths, so that the scientific traveller alighting at an inn might look round before dinner for rare birds or for the traces of historic earth quakes. The guide-book to the Riviera is almost entirely devoted to a comprehensive review of the plant-life of the country, and the index contains plant-names only. Due stress is laid (p. 284) on Sir Thomas Hanbury's garden at La Mortola, a hamlet between Ventimiglia and Mentone, and 135 pages are occupied with an account of the cultivated plants, though these are not native to La Mortola. The geology of the district is treated in fifteen pages, and twelve more are given to the famous prehistoric caves of Mentone. It is clear that the greater part of this “guide-book” will be quite as useful in the library as in the field, and the description of the native flora in relation to its environment makes an appeal to every modern botanist. As examples of the author's historical method, we may mention the disquisi tion on Ferula nodiflora, the source, according to Martial, of scholastic “ferules” (p. 123), and the account of the recent immigration of Lepidium draba (p. 211), a steppe-plant that, like the Huns, has followed the Danube and then descended into Roman territory. The appearance of this book in Junk's series may herald further surprises. Will the promised Swiss volume prove to be an authoritative work on mountain-structure?

(1) Junk's Natur-Führer. Die Riviera.

By Alban Voigt. Pp. vi + 466 + vi plates. (Berlin: W. Junk, 1914.) Price 7 marks.

(2) Einführung in die Erdbeben- und Vulkankunde Süditaliens.

By August Sieberg. Pp. vi + 226. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1914.) Price 4 marks.

(3) Cambridge County Geographies. Merionethshire.

By A. Morris. Pp. ix + 166 + 2 maps. Northumberland. By S. Rennie Haselhurst. Pp. xi + 181 + 2 maps. (Cambridge University Press, 1913.) Price 1s. 6d. each.

(4) The Madras Presidency. With Mysore, Coorg, and the Associated States.

By E. Thurston. Pp. xii + 293. (Cambridge University Press, 1913.) Price 3s. net.