Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/212

186 publication, 'Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien und dem malayischen Archipel.' One observation on Termites is, however, too interesting to pass over. Our author was molested by the inhabitants of a big ant-hill near his encampment, and "strewed a handful of naphthalin crumbs all over the hill, in the certain expectation that this would occasion a general emigration." Conquering disgust, the Termites removed these objectionable deposits from their habitation. Pieces of potassic cyanide were now tried, and the expectation was held that by the morning the place would be deserted by the ants and their belongings. "How astonished was I when I found the whole surface of the heap strewn with dead ants like a battle-field. The pieces of cyanide, however, had totally disappeared! More than one-half of the community had met death in this desperate struggle, but still the death-defying courage of the heroic little creatures had succeeded in removing the fatal poison, the touch of which must have been just as disagreeable to them as it was dangerous.... Once removed from the heap, the poison had been well covered with leaves and pieces of wood, then interred, and thus prevented from doing further damage."

We have not space to follow Mr. Semon through the islands of the Malay Archipelago. As regards Celebes, he prefers the views of Max Weber to those of Wallace, and refuses to associate Celebes with the Australian region, believing its fauna to be an impoverished Oriental one, showing a strong Australian admixture.

The charm of these books lies in the philosophical treatment of natural history narrative, which not only gives us glimpses of exotic nature, but points to its signification.

recently drew attention in these pages (1898, p. 510) to Mr. Beddard's 'Structure and Classification of Birds,' and if a companion volume is sought to be found to that work, Mr. Evans's book should come under that designation. One supplements the other, and most naturalists will probably place them