1897] NOTES AND COMMENTS 301 



lodges are situated in still water, and there the animal must itself 

 convey the logs, holding them between its fore paws, while swim- 

 ming solely by the hind legs. The construction of a lodge occupies 

 at least two years, and it is repaired annually. It is usually 

 elongated in shape, rarely round or conical, and it is always far dis- 

 tant from its nearest neighbour. Numerous burrows are made in 

 the bank of the river near the lodge, but rarely in connection with 

 it. They seem to be inhabited chiefly by young individuals, and 

 they are the first refuges formed by the beaver at any spot where it 

 has decided to settle down and build. 



As to the inhabitants of a lodge, Prof. Collett thinks that only 

 one pair with their latest young occupy each. The older litters 

 •either migrate or occupy the neighbouring burrows. 



The Fishes of the North Atlantic 



We have also been favoured by Prof. Collett with a copy of his 

 handsome memoir on the fishes collected by the Prince of Monaco 

 on his yacht the Hirondellc during the years 1885-1888, which is 

 one of the most important contributions to Ichthyology of the last 

 decade* It is published in the sumptuous style with which the gener- 

 osity of the Prince of Monaco has nowmade us familiar,and the illustra- 

 tions are among the most exquisite figures of fishes we have yet seen. 



The fishes obtained belong to ninety-five species, and are of 

 great interest not only in their elucidation of the ordinary pelagic 

 fauna of the North Atlantic, but also in the light they shed upon 

 the geographical and bathymetrical distribution of a certain number 

 of remarkable forms obtained from depths of no less than 2000 

 metres. Only six new species are determined, and only one new 

 generic name is proposed, namely, Halosauropsis for Halosaurus mac- 

 rochir of Giinther — an emendation also made some time ago by Goode 

 and Bean, who, however, proposed to term the genus Aldrovandia. 



The classification of Giinther is mainly adopted in this memoir, 

 and the new specimens of the more important species are carefully 

 described in detail. The value of the work is also greatly enhanced 

 by the copious references to the literature of the subject, and the 

 comparison of the results with those of previous authors. It would 

 tend much towards the progress of systematic zoology if this 

 laborious method were more generally followed by the authors of 

 such reports. When recording new facts, it adds much to the toil 

 of the work to incorporate them and correlate them precisely with 

 existing knowledge ; but the additional labour is well spent, and it 

 converts dry catalogues, comprehensible only to a few narrow 



* Poissons provenant des Campagnes du Yacht V Hirondclle (1885-1888). By 

 Robert Collott. 4 to, pp. viii., 198, pi. vi. (Resultats des Campagnes Scientifiques 

 aecomplies sur son Yacht, par Albert l er -> Prince Souverain de Monaco, fasc. x., 1896.) 



