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THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH THE ACTION OF WORMS, with Observations on their habits by CHARLES DARWIN, LL. D., F. R. S. With Illustrations. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1, 3 & 5 Bond St. 1882.

A 12mo volume of 3:26 pp., cloth, in binding and print a credit to the publishers. A book that invites examination and richly rewards it. It is calculated to deeply interest, not only the class that is known as peculiarly that of Mr. Darwin's admirers, but all who find any pleasure

in the field of natural history. The arrangement of the material is so clear and simple, that it is scarcely necessary to consult the complete index with which the book is furnished in referring to any desired part of the subject treated.

The author presents observations made by himself and others of the physiology, work and habits of the common earth-worm. The information is abundant, varied and interesting. It is but just to say that Mr. Darwin is much more successful and reliable as a faithful recorder of what he sees, than as a speculator upon what he does not see.

The work before us is a printed and legitimate evolution of close attention to facts of natural history and of healthy neglect of unnatural fancies. And if Mr. Darwin has been able to discover no more than the intelligence of the worm, he has helped many to a broader and brighter view of the intelligence above the worm, evincing itself in the wisdom of its  structure, and the kindness of its use, and man's humble and retiring, subterranean fellow-tiller of the soil, upon this closer acquaintance, makes a great advance in the esteem of his more elevated "earth-born companion and fellow-mortal."

F. A. K.