!tf 95 . SOME NEW BOOKS. 201 



" Then hame he cam, and left his mates, 

 And wrote a book wi' maps and plates, 

 And sections o' the Russian states 



Frae Baltic Sea to Ural. 

 The Emperor he scratched his poll, — 

 ' 'Tis bravely done ! but by my soul ! ! 

 I wish we had some beds o' coal ! ! ! 



Oh ! Tooralooralooral ! ! ! ! 

 There's auld rocks ayont the sea, 

 There's British rocks ayont the sea 

 Hae lots o' coal, the worse for me, 



There's nane beside the Ural.' 



(Weep.)" 



Monkeys. 



A Handbook to the Primates (Allen's Naturalists' Library). By Henry O. 

 Forbes, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. xvi., 286, 22 coloured plates; pp. xvi., 296, 

 7 coloured plates, with 8 maps, showing distribution of various genera, and 

 other illustrations. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1894. Price 6s. each vol. 



To those familiar with the rich series of living monkeys which pass 

 from time to time through the gardens of various zoological societies, 

 and those which adorn the cases in our museums, it may seem strange 

 to say that comparatively little is known of this group of animals. 

 But it is a fact that a considerable proportion of the monkeys known 

 to science have been described from menagerie specimens, with im- 

 perfect ideas as to their exact habitat and with a still less perfect 

 knowledge of the variations of the individual species which has been 

 described. Numerous examples occur in our museums about 

 which the only information is thus recorded : " From the zoological 



gardens of , purchased of Mr. ; said to come from 



." And all this imperfect knowledge comes from the fact 



that the sportsman, filled with sentimental yearning for his kinsmen, 

 hesitates to shoot, and so zoology has to grope along as best it can, 

 except in certain cases. Happily, this state of things is passing, 

 and we are now able to understand with a degree of certainty the 

 Bornean monkeys, for instance, thanks to the careful collecting and 

 observation of Mr. Alfred Everett and Mr. Charles Hose. It is well 

 to insist somewhat on this fact, because until better collected series of 

 skins and skeletons of monkeys from all parts of the world are avail- 

 able, the construction of maps of distribution of this interesting 

 order is almost useless and leads us into grave and persistent error. 



We are particularly pleased to see, almost for the first time, this 

 effort to collect together a general and particular account of the 

 Primates between four covers. ^Especially so, as, from the reasons 

 given above, a hopelessly muddled state of things prevails, and the 

 whole of our present knowledge of the group is widely scattered in 

 literature. This undigested mass of literature Dr. Forbes has now 

 arranged, and despite the obvious signs of hasty writing, and the 

 evidence of carelessness in references, the book will form a valuable 

 basis on which some future zoologist may build up a permanent and 

 an enduring structure. 



The work begins with a too brief Introduction, containing the 

 description of a Primate, and passes at once to the consideration of 

 the Lemurs, in which group the author has received considerable 

 and important assistance from Dr. Forsyth Major. These include 

 the Aye-Aye of Madagascar, the Tarsiers of Malaysia and the Philip- 

 pines, and the true Lemurs of Madagascar, Africa, Ceylon, India, and 

 Malaysia. Of the numerous species comprised in the Lemuroidea, by 

 far the larger number are strictly confined to Madagascar ; but the 



