LITERARY NOTICES. 



631 



second part of the book, gives directions for 

 making experiments illustrative of the prin- 

 cipal laws of physics, as the equilibrium of 

 forces, motion, acoustics, light, magnetism, 

 heat, etc. The work appears to be very 

 well adapted to meet the wants of the read- 

 er for whom it is intended. 



Current Discussion : A Collection from the 

 Chief English Essays of Questions of 

 the Time. Edited by Edward L. Bur- 

 lingame. Vol. II., Questions of Belief. 

 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 360. Price, $1.50. 



The first volume of this new series of 

 reprinted contemporary discussion was de- 

 voted to international politics, and very 

 naturally gave special prominence to the 

 treatment of the Oriental question which 

 has latterly excited so much attention. It 

 consisted of a judicious selection of the 

 most important papers that have appeared 

 in the English reviews by distinguished 

 writers on the various aspects of Eastern 

 politics. The second volume, devoted to 

 what the editor terms, somewhat vaguely, 

 " Questions of Belief," is occupied with 

 radical speculations in theology, most of 

 the space being taken up by the Symposi- 

 ums from the Nineteenth Century that have 

 appeared in The Popular Science Supple- 

 ment. There is an article on " The Course 

 of Modern Thought," by G. H. Lewes ; one 

 on " The Condition and Prospects of the 

 Church of England," by Thomas Hughes ; 

 and the paper of W. H. Mallock entitled 

 " Is Life worth living ? " Nothing needs 

 to be said in commendation of these able 

 discussions, and they are brought out in a 

 neat and attractive shape by the publishers. 



Ferns of Kentucky. By J. "Williamson. 

 Louisville : J. P. Morton & Co. Pp. 154. 



$2. 



The collector of ferns in Kentucky will 

 find in this neat little volume a guide to the 

 principal localities in which the different 

 kinds occur, and a key for determining the 

 different species which he meets in his ram- 

 bles. The volume further contains hints on 

 the cultivation of ferns, and on the proper 

 method of drying and preserving them. 

 Sixty full-page etchings and six woodcuts 

 serve to illustrate the ferns of Kentucky. 



Bulletin of the United States Geological 

 and Geographical Survey of the Ter- 

 ritories, F. V. Hayden, Geologist-in- 

 Charge. Vol. IV., No. I. Washing- 

 ton: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 311. 



The memoirs contained in this number 

 of the Bulletin are all on zoological sub- 

 jects, viz. : " The Ornithology of the Lower 

 Rio Grande of Texas ; " " Fishes from the 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary, west of the Mis- 

 sissippi ; " three papers on " Tineina ; " 

 " JVoctuidce, chiefly from California ; " " The 

 North American Species of Alpheus ; " 

 " Mammals of Fort Sisseton, Dakota ; " 

 " American Herodiones ; " " Butterflies from 

 Southern Utah ; " " Herpetology of Dakota 

 and Montana; " " Consolidation of the Hoofs 

 in the Virginian Deer ; " "A Breed of Solid- 

 Hoofed Pigs ; " " Prof. Owen on the Pylho- 

 nomorpha." 



Manual of the Apiary. By A. J. Cook, 

 Professor of Entomology in the Michi- 

 gan State Agricultural College. Chi- 

 cago : T. G. Newman & Son. Pp. 286. 

 Price, cloth, $1.25 ; paper, $1. 



A large edition of this " Manual " hav- 

 ing been sold within two years of its first 

 publication, Prof. Cook was encouraged to 

 revise the work and make it more complete 

 in both its scientific and practical aspects. 

 The result is a handsome volume, elegantly 

 illustrated, and containing all the informa- 

 tion needed by those who desire to keep 

 bees. We have received, from the same 

 author, a pamphlet on "The Hessian Fly," 

 giving its natural history and habits, and 

 describing the methods of protecting the 

 wheat-plants against its ravages. 



Manual of the Vertfbrates of the North- 

 ern United States. By David Starr 

 Jordan, Ph. D., M. D. Second edition, 

 revised and enlarged. Chicago : Jansen, 

 McClurg & Co. 1878. Price, $2.50. 



It speaks well for this book, and for the 

 growing activity in natural history studies, 

 that it has grown to become so useful an 

 apparatus in its own line. It is barely four 

 years since that novel brochure appeared 

 of Jordan and Van Vleck, " A Popular Key 

 to the Birds, Reptiles, Batrachians, and 

 Fishes, of the Northern United States, east 

 of the Mississippi River." Soon came as 

 an outgrowth the " Manual of the Verte- 



