i894- SOME NEW BOOKS. 143 



Maiden, and Mr. C. Hedley. Besides being a worthy memorial of a 

 notable man, it does great credit to the Linnean Society of New 

 South Wales, to the printers and lithographers of Sydney and 

 Melbourne, and to all our Australasian colleagues. 



[The Earth before the Appearance ok Man.] La Terre avant I'apparition de 

 rhomme. Periodes geologiques, Faunes et Fiores fossiles, Geologie regionale 

 de la France. By Fernand Priem. Pp. 716, text illustrated. Large 8vo. 

 Paris : Bailliere & Sons, 1893. Price 12 francs. 



This volume forms part of a series entitled Meweilles de la Nature. As 

 one of these marvels a restoration of Triceratops now graces the title 

 page ; but the author might very well have placed his own portrait 

 there instead. For, only last year he produced a companion volume. 

 La Terre, les Mers et les Continents, noticed in Natural Science, vol. ii., 

 p. 314, and now he has given birth to the present monster, which 

 contains more matter than 13 numbers of this Journal. The explana- 

 tion of course is that these volumes are little more than compila- 

 tions from well-known works in other languages, such as Neumayr's 

 Erdgeschichte and Suess's Antlitz dcr Erde ; and as such they demand 

 little notice from us. 



In some respects Mr. Priem essays to do for the French public what 

 Canon Bonney has done for our own in the book reviewed last month. 

 His descriptions are, however, far more technical and he nowhere 

 achieves that distinction of style so characteristic of the English 

 writer. This one would expect to militate against the popularity of 

 his work, did one not know how much greater the acquaintance of the 

 ordinary Frenchman with such matters is than that of the ordinary 

 Englishman. On the other hand, if Mr. Priem's book is intended 

 for serious students, it is by no means careful enough. Facts of 

 which he was ignorant when he wrote L' Evolution des Formes Aniinales 

 in i8go, he remains ignorant of to-day, through no fault of his critics 

 (see Geol. Mag., Dec. III., vol. viii., p. 515 : i8gi). 



It is, however, only the first 453 pages of the present volume that 

 are devoted to the popularisation of geology. The latter part, which 

 is far more valuable to the world at large, consists of an account of 

 the geology of France. The method adopted, which is the most 

 useful one for the foreign visitor, is to describe the various regions 

 rather than the formations. First is described the Central Plateau, 

 then follow the Western Massif, Ardenne, the Vosges, the mountains 

 of Maures and Esterel, the Alps, the Jura, the Pyrenees, the Sub- 

 Pyrenean plain, the Paris Basin and, lastly, the Basin of the Saone 

 and Rhone. This part is illustrated by numerous maps and sections, 

 and supplies a want, which, so far as we are aware, had not been pre- 

 viously filled. It can hardly be called a pocket guide; at the same 

 time our readers will be glad to learn that the work has been published 

 in 24 Series at 50 centimes, and in 4 Fascicules at 3 francs, and that 

 each series or fascicule may be bought separately. For this last 

 fascicule, at least, we predict a good sale. 



As a picture-book the whole volume may attract some attention, 

 since it contains no less than goo figures. All, however, are not 

 equally good. Most of the interiors of Brachiopods are wooden in 

 the extreme. Dinornis parvus has a miserable appearance. Fig. 637, 

 Megatherium, fig. 624, the Mammoth, and fig. 355, a Pterodactyl, 

 would have been destroyed long ago by any right-minded person, so 

 full of errors are they. Some of tlie blocks seem to have been put 

 into a lucky bag, and drawn out at hazard at the last moment ; thus 



