1897] SOME NEW BOOKS 205 



of conflicting authorities. We look for some pronouncement on 

 debated points, and for some clue through the maze that perplexes 

 us. In these respects the present work leaves us unsatisfied. There 

 is no exposition of the principles of the classification adopted ; there 

 are no keys ; and there is little to indicate the relations of the species 

 to one another. The authors suffer from an excess of caution : they 

 tell us what Hyatt has written, what Haug thinks, what is the 

 opinion of Branco, and what one will find in Zittel ; hut what their 

 own views are, wild horses will not drag from them. It is the duty 

 of people with such advantages as have our authors, not only to have 

 opinions but to express them. It is not enough to tell us of so 

 interesting a form as Clymenia that its derivation "is at present 

 enigmatical " ; it has been that for half-a-centurv. But one doubts 

 occasionally whether even the authors know their own minds. There 

 is a vast deal of quotation as to the systematic position of Bactrites, 

 but where it is placed after all, we cannot understand. In Part I. of 

 the Catalogue, Dr Foord inserted it among the Nautiloidea ; in Part 

 II. he said that he would refer it to the Ammonoidea ; and now in 

 Part III. it is hung up in the air, as though it were an Archi- 

 cephalopod or a Schematic Mollusc. Again, among the quotations 

 bearing on this, we find a passage from Hyatt and some of his 

 figures ; but we find no quotation of the destructive criticism of this 

 passage published by Mr Crick himself, in conjunction with Mi- 

 Bather, in Natural Science for December 1894 (vol. v., p. 425). It is 

 less strange, but quite as inexcusable, that there should be no refer- 

 ence to the important papers by J. M. Clarke in the American 

 Geologist. There is always some excellent excuse for the suppression 

 of evidence, and we shall no doubt learn that this is all for the good 

 of the Government — or its officials. 



It is curious, in a volume dealing with the Goniatites, to find no 

 family Goniatitidae and no genus Goniatites. The type-species of 

 Goniatites is the Nautilites sphacricus of Martin, a perfectly well- 

 known form, which appears in this book as a Glyphioceras. There 

 seems no room for doubt that Glyphioceras must rank as a synonym 

 of Goniatites, since the latter has some sixty years' priority. 



With the few exceptions mentioned, the volume is brought well 

 up to date, and the care with which it has been compiled augurs well 

 for the continuation of the series. 



Popular Natural History 



The Concise Knowledge Library — Natural History. Edited by Alfred H. Miles. 

 8vo, pp. xvi. and 771, with 530 original illustrations. London : Hutchinson & 

 Co., 1897. Price, 5s. 



This volume is the first of a projected series, the purpose of which is 

 shown in the title, and in the editorial preface. The volumes are 

 intended to be " concise and popular ... at once accurate in state- 

 ment, handy in form, and ready of reference " ; and the results hoped 

 for are, " that much time may be saved to busy people and much help 

 afforded to students." The plan is excellent, but the execution is 

 scarcely so successful as one would expect from the names which 

 figure on the title page. Mr Lydekker is responsible for the mammals, 



