128 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



Taking as his thesis the axiom that the "life-history of the 

 individual is a recapitulation of the history of the race," the author 

 builds up his ideas of comparative anatomy around the important 

 basis of embryology. His comparative conception is not always 

 apparent in the text but in a study that is at once detailed and general 

 the difficulty of a broad discrimination is duly recognized. Thus the 

 work might be criticised as not catering to the tastes of the under- 

 graduate in general, but its usefulness in the zoological laboratory and 

 class-room will be greatly appreciated. 



In his treatment of the subject, the author demonstrates his 

 exceptional familiarity with animal structure as well as a very 

 extensive acquaintance with the literature of comparative anatomy 

 and embryology, and for these very reasons, one would expect to find 

 a cautious as well as scholarly exposition of the whole subject. 



The illustrations, mostly original, constitute a notable feature of 

 the book and the author must be complimented for his great skill as 

 an artist, especially for the admirable stereograms. Unfortunately, 

 the same cannot be said for the outline drawings which are at times 

 too crowded and suffer from lack of contrast. In this respect they 

 fall short of the work of Balfour, Marshall, Flower and Wiedersheim. 

 A few errors still persist in the second edition, both statements of fact 

 as well as typographical. For instance, the statement (p. 132) that 

 "the somatic wall of the mytome does not participate in muscle 

 formation" needs qualification, since it is not true of all vertebrates. 

 Again in Fig. 378, the two oviducts are shown as uniting in a "urinary 

 bladder." On the whole, however, the work will be more than 

 acceptable to morphologists who will feel justly proud both of the 

 author and the publisher who has accomplished his typographic 

 responsibilities in such careful fashion. A. E. C. 



NOTE. 



Mr. Alfred T. Davies has written under the title "Student Cap- 

 tives" a short account of the British prisoners of war book scheme, 

 whose object is to provide British prisoners of war interned in enemy 

 or neutral countries with educational books. Much trouble has been 

 taken to provide the prisoners with mental interests, and to make 

 suitable provision for their education so as to enable them to redeem 

 the time of their captivity. Letters of enquiry as to what to send 

 should be addressed to A. T. Davies, Esq., C.B., Board of Education, 

 Whitehall, London, S.W.L., England, and the word "Prisoners of 

 War" written in the left-hand top corner. 



