Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

192 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY
while being reasonably popular loses none of its scientific value.
Much valuable work on this remarkable Order has been accomplished
during recent years, thanks to the labours of Sir William Turner,
Sir W. H. Flower, and others, and a general work on the group
had become a recognised want. This desideratum is well supplied
by Mr. Beddard's timely volume.
The general scope of the work is indicated by the headings of
its various chapters, which are devoted to External Form, Internal
Structure, Comparison with other Aquatic Mammals, Position in
the System and Classification, Hunting Whales, Right Whales,
Rorquals, Toothed Whales, Beaked Whales, Dolphins, Anomalous
Dolphins, Zeuglodonts, and other Allies.
The book is well printed and illustrated, and is
extremely
reasonable in price.
THE MYCETOZOA.
By the Right Hon. Sir Edward Fry, D.C.L.,
F.R.S., etc., and Agnes Fry. (London: "Knowledge" Office,
1899.)
The authors of this little
book are enthusiasts in the best sense,
writing with the desire to communicate to others some conception
of the great interest and importance of the questions suggested by
the study of the very curious beings that form the subjects
of it.
The story of the Mycetozoa is admirably told, without attempting
to describe the species. Numerous questions of far-reaching importance
are suggested by the peculiar structure and modes of reproduction
and of response to stimuli exhibited by Mycetozoa.
These questions are discussed in the manner that was to be looked
for from Sir E. Fry, though here and there slips occur, as on p. 35,
where it is stated that " all plants with a square stalk and lipped
flowers will be found to have a four-lobed ovary and four nuts on
the bottom of the calyx, and these belong to the family of the
Labiatae," and on p. 63, where the multinucleate Algse are said to
"agree in possessing no cell walls." The book is well illustrated,
and forms an excellent introduction to the study of a fascinating
group on the borderland of plants and animals.