204 NATUBAL SCIENCE [March 



several errors and omissions, the book will be found very good of its 

 kind ; it is so well illustrated, so clearly printed and generally good, 

 that it will be found a useful addition to the student's and teacher's 

 shelves. 



Apart from the descriptive matter, special reference should be 

 made to the chapters at the end of the second volume on the Philosophy 

 of Zoology, the History of Zoology, and on Geographical Distribu- 

 tion, with especial reference to Australasian forms. 'J'liese sub- 

 jects are rarely read by beginners, and we commend these chapters to 

 their consideration, and hope that, bound up as they are with the 

 more ' paying ' matter, they will spare some hours from their 

 'schools" work to study the history of these subjects. There is- 

 one noticeable difference from most modern books, and that is an 

 absence of literature in the body of the book. It may be true that it 

 is impossible to give a complete or sufiicient bibliography within 

 reasonable limits, but it is possible to give a carefully chosen and 

 representative bibliography, and it is advisable, we think, that a 

 student, even a beginner, should be induced to read original memoirs. 

 It is more stimulating than a Text-Book, and gives him a fuller 

 knowledge of how the facts of the science are discovered and verified 

 and correlated ; and we ourselves have always found that beginners 

 take a great deal more interest in zoology, if they can be induced to 

 read occasionally special papers and memoirs. 



In the " Guide to Literature " at the end of the present book the 

 majority of references are to students' Text-Books of one kind or 

 another ; only a few monographs are referred to, and many important 

 ones could liave easily and appropriately been added. It is, however, 

 a good idea to add a list of such periodicals as the Zoologischer 

 Anzeigcr, the Centralblatts, &c., wherever current literature may be 

 found. 



The Eiches of Dresden 



Guide to the Royal Collections at Dresden. Translated by C. S. Fox. Published 

 by authority. 8vo, 290 pp. Dresden, 1897. Price, 1 Mark. 



The number of English speakers, especially Americans, who visit 

 Dresden every year, many of them living there for some time, has 

 caused the authorities of the museums and picture galleries in that town 

 to issue an English edition of their handbooks. We find herein an ac- 

 count of the Zoological, Anthropological, and Ethnographical Museum, 

 which, although the successor of a cabinet of art and natural curio- 

 sities formed by the Elector Augustus, 1553-1582, practically dates 

 from 1849, in which year the museum was burnt by the revolution- 

 aries. Following this is a short description of the Mineralogical, . 

 Geological, and Prehistoric museum, which has had a similar history 

 to that of the zoological collections, and is now placed in the west 

 wing of the Zwinger building, the zoological collections being in tiie 

 soiith wing. These guides are intended for dan r/rossc Publicum, not 

 for the scientific student : they do not, as do the guides of our British 

 Museum, give any connected account of the objects contained, but 

 content themselves with drawing attention to the more striking among 

 them. They are probably no less useful to the visitors-for whom they 

 are intended, but do not form such interesting reading at home. 



