506 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



There is an air of ultimate truth assumed 

 throughout the essays, which the conclu- 

 sions hardly warrant ; and the author would 

 probably write a better book if he exercised 

 his dogmatic tendencies less and cultivated 

 a clearer style more. 



Report of the Condition of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 on moving into its New Edifice, South- 

 west Corner of Race and Nineteenth 

 Streets. By W. S. W. Ruschenberger. 

 Philadelphia: Collins, Printer. Pp.56. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia dates from the year 1812, and, 

 at the close of that year, consisted of four- 

 teen members, who assembled on the second 

 floor of a house devoted to millinery pur- 

 poses. Although their progress was slow, 

 yet, in 1817, the publication of their Jour- 

 nal was commenced, and in 1820 they 

 sought more spacious accommodations in 

 a Swedenborgian church. Twenty years 

 later a new building was erected, more 

 space was given to the collections, and an 

 increased number of visitors continued to 

 be attracted. It again outgrew its quar- 

 ters, and ten years ago a movement was 

 started which resulted in the present edi- 

 fice. The Academy is now free from debt ; 

 it possesses a building constructed with 

 reference to architectural beauty and to the 

 ends for which it was designed, and is ap- 

 parently in a very flourishing condition. 

 Its cabinets of birds and shells of inollusks 

 are nowhere surpassed in extent and com- 

 pleteness, and in other departments the col- 

 lections are valuable, though, as yet, com- 

 paratively small. 



The Structure and Relations of Dinich- 

 thys ; with Descriptions of Some Other 

 Fossil Fishes. By J. S. Newberry. 

 Columbus : Nevins & Meyers. 



Dr,. Newberry has reprinted this me- 

 moir from Vol. II. of the " Report of the 

 Geological Survey of Ohio," of which we 

 gave a notice last month, and it is accom- 

 panied by seven lithographic plates and 

 many woodcut figures. The Diniehthys, 

 to which the body of the pamphlet is de- 

 voted, is a huge ganoid fish, occurring 

 along the Lake Erie shore in the Huronian 

 shales, and peculiar among its allies in its 

 massive mandibles and in its dentition, 

 which closely resembles that of living Lcpi- 



dosiren. Other resemblances between the-m 

 are so close as to warrant the belief that 

 in the LepiJosiren we have a dwarfed repre- 

 sentative of the great fishes which popu- 

 lated the Devonian seas. Dr. Newberry 

 discusses minutely the anatomy and rela- 

 tionships, homologically and generally, of 

 these monarchs among ancient fishes, and 

 describes several additional species. The 

 latter half of the book is occupied with de- 

 scriptions of new fossil fishes' from the car- 

 boniferous rocks of Ohio, belonging to vari- 

 ous orders and families, all the points of 

 which are elaborated with the close atten- 

 tion characteristic of this distinguished ge- 

 ologist. 



In a paper read before the Detroit meet- 

 ing of the American Association, and now- 

 reprinted, Prof. Aug. R. Grote explained 

 the effect of the glacial epoch on the distri- 

 bution of insects in North America. He 

 endeavors successfully, we think to show- 

 that arctic forms of insects, the White Moun- 

 tain butterfly, for example, came southward 

 with the gradual extension of the ice-sheet, 

 and, when the ice-sheet retreated, followed 

 it backward ; but some, straying away, or 

 lingering about the local glaciers of high 

 mountain-ranges, gradually followed the de- 

 clining cold to the high summits, where only 

 could they find a congenial climate. Mean- 

 while, the surrounding lowlands having be- 

 come warm, they could not follow their con- 

 geners to the arctic zone, but were impris- 

 oned, as it were, on their mountain-tops, 

 and have there remained, undergoing modi- 

 fications caused by the exigencies of their 

 surroundings. Some such process, Prof. 

 Grote judges, has determined the distribu- 

 tion of most of our Alpine insects. 



The Report of the Director of the Cen- 

 tral Park Menagerie, Mr. W. A. Conklin, 

 for the past two years, shows that, in spite 

 of the lack of encouragement afforded it by 

 the Park Commissioners, that commendable 

 institution continues prosperous, and is vis- 

 ited by increasing crowds of spectators 

 among others whole schools, with their 

 teachers, attesting its educational value. 

 The appropriations for it allow of little 

 more than the care of the inmates, but 

 many animals are received on deposit from 

 their owners, and births are constantly oc- 



