338 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



from that of a rat (as in the case of eocene species) to that 

 of an ass. 



SHAD IN THE GULF OP MEXICO. 



As a contribution to the history of the occurrence of shad 

 in the waters tributary to the Gulf of Mexico, we may men- 

 tion that, according to the Montgomery Advertiser, several 

 genuine shad were taken in Pigeon Creek during the spring 

 of 1874. This stream empties into the Escambia River, which 

 discharges into the Gulf of Mexico at Pensacola. The occur- 

 rence of shad in considerable numbers in other parts of the 

 Escambia River has already been well substantiated. 



HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC COAST MARINE MAMMALS. 



An exhaustive work on the marine mammals of the North 

 Pacific by Captain C. M. Scammon, of the United States 

 Revenue Service, has just been published by John H. Car- 

 many & Co., San Francisco. It forms a stout quarto vol- 

 ume, with many plates, and contains an exhaustive history 

 of the whales, porpoises, and other cetaceans, together with 

 that of the sea-elephant, sea-lion, sea-otter, the walrus, etc., 

 all accurately figured and described. 



A specially important section of the volume is that upon 

 the American whale-fishery, giving an account of its origin, 

 extent, mode of prosecution, its progress and present con- 

 dition, with a full description of all the apparatus used in the 

 capture and utilization of the cetaceans, and the incidents of 

 a whaling life. 



In an appendix is a systematic account and catalogue of 

 the cetaceans of the North Pacific by Mr. Dall, a glossary of 

 words and phrases used by whalemen, and a list of stores and 

 outfits. The press-work and make-up of the book, as well as 

 the illustrations, are of the first class, and would do credit to 

 the best of the establishments in the East. 



The value of this book consists in its having been prepared 

 by one who was himself in the whaling business for manv 

 years, which he left during the war to become an officer of 

 the revenue service ; and, although he has depended to some 

 extent upon others for the scientific technicalities, the peculiar 

 value of the book is entirely due to himself. 



As an exhaustive treatise, even of a limited field of the 



