BOOK REVIEWS 4 1 



the author would limit high-school teaching to natural history ar- 

 ranged on a foundation of classification, for he holds that " Sys- 

 tem is the only master-key by which the doors of Animate Nature 

 can he unlocked " — a statement with which a very large number 

 of teachers will decidedly disagree. 



The book begins with the highest of the mammals and ends 

 with the lowest of the fishes, an order of study which the author 

 considers most interesting" to beginners. The illustrations are 

 excellent and very attractive. There are 227 original drawings, 

 116 photographs, and many maps and charts. By special arrange- 

 ment with the publishers we are able to reprint in an advertising 

 page a sample illustration, one which is also full of interest apart 

 from its connection with the book. 



Summarizing its good points, the reviewer is led to say that the 

 " American Natural History " is, in all essential respects, an ex- 

 cellent and intensely interesting book ; and it will surely fill an im- 

 portant place in private, public and school libraries. It will long 

 be the popular reading and reference book on American animals ; 

 and it deserves a reign of popularity such as in the last half of the 

 last century was given the books by the late J. G. Wood, the Eng- 

 lish naturalist, who did more than any other to popularize animal 

 natural history in Britain and wherever the English language is 

 read. M. A. B. 



How to Know the Butterflies. By John Henry Comstock and 

 Anna Botsford Comstock. X. Y., Appleton & Co. 1904. Pp.311 

 (5/4 by 8 in.), 45 colored plates and 50 figures in text. $2.25 net. 



This addition to the already long list of books on butterflies will 

 be welcomed because it aims primarily to help the beginner in the 

 study of these insects. This is done by means of excellent illustra- 

 tions of common butterflies without a confusing array of figures 

 of foreign species, by giving brief but sufficiently full descriptions, 

 and by recording only the more important facts about the life-his- 

 tories. 



Part I of the book is a general account of relationships, struc- 

 ture, metamorphosis, the life of butterflies, and methods of col- 

 lecting. Part II deals with the classification of butterflies of ten 

 prominent families and their leading sub-divisions. There are 

 tables without technical terminology so that the beginner's way 

 to the name of a family is a quite easy one ; and the descriptions 



