1894. • SOME NEW BOOKS. 309 



the kindness of M. Brongniart, of seeing not only a considerable part 

 of this collection, but also the illustrations prepared by M. Brongniart 

 himself from the choicest specimens ; illustrations made with a care 

 and exactitude which leave nothing to be desired, and which are 

 now nearly completed after a labour of ten years, so that we may 

 hope soon to be favoured with his final work. Leaving the cock- 

 roaches out of account, to which M. Brongniart will give his attention 

 later, the number of these illustrations, their variety, the extra- 

 ordinary character of the insects themselves, and their rare perfection, 

 leave not the least room for doubt that when his work appears, our 

 knowledge of palaeozoic insects will have been increased three- or four- 

 fold at a single stroke, and an entirely new point of departure for the 

 future opened. No former contribution in this field can in any way com- 

 pare with it, nor even all former contributions taken together. Besides, 

 it will offer sych a striking series of strange forms as cannot fail to 

 awaken the attention of the least incurious. One may not enter into 

 details, but mention may simply be made of one species, regarded by M. 

 Brongniart as one of the forerunners of the dragon flies, in which the 

 wings have an expanse of considerably more than two feet (or about 

 70 centimetres), and of which several specimens are preserved. It is 

 a veritable giant among insects." 



Mark Stirrup. 



L'Anthropologie. Paris: vol. v., nos. i, 2, 3. 1894. 



There are several papers of geological interest in these three parts 

 of " L'Anthropologie." Emil Cartailhac describes the flint implements 

 which have been secured from L'Herm Cave, Ariege, and Marcellin 

 Boule has a note on the lower jaw of Gulo luscus, and in a similar 

 bone of an enormous Felis from the same cavern. This second jaw, 

 which measures 295 mm., is larger than any yet recorded, and 

 M. Boule names it F. leo, race spelcFa. Ed. Piette writes some notes 

 illustrative of primitive art of the horse and reindeer periods. Good 

 illustrations accompany the paper, one of especial interest showing 

 an auroch's head cut into a piece of stone. Another article by 

 Salomon Reinach treats of European primitive sculpture showing 

 Graeco- Roman influence, but this, though of extreme interest, deals 

 more or less with historic peoples. 



In a recent paper entitled " The Mammalia of the Deep River 

 Beds" [Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol. xvii.), Professor Scott makes some 

 valuable additions to our knowledge of the American Equidae, and 

 describes some forms of which only brief notices had previously been 

 given. Of these, Desmathippus is notable since it fills almost the 

 only important gap left in the phylogenetic history of the horse, coming 

 midway between Miohippus and Protohippus. The teeth are short- 

 crowned with the valleys partly filled by cement ; the feet possess 

 fairly well-developed lateral digits. Another interesting form is a true 

 Anchitherium, A. equimim, nearly allied to the European A. 

 aurelianense, but in some respects more horse-like. The author shows 

 that these are good reasons for regarding Anchitherium as a side 

 branch of the equine phylum which has left no descendants, and con- 

 siders that the genus must have arisen in America, probably from 

 Miohippus. A . eqninum occurs in the upper division of Deep River 

 Beds which is taken by the author as approximately equivalent in age 



