-1914] The Ottawa Naturalist. 39 



work will be disappointing to some, and the figures, 181 in num- 

 ber, are in very many cases from defective coloured casts, not 

 from the actual specimens, and details, such as the plates in 

 the gill-cover, and especially the fin-rays, are without exception, 

 absent or blurred. The value of this check list would have been 

 very substantial had each species been represented b}- an actual 

 drawing instead of a very indistinct protographic effigy. The 

 State of New York, some years ago, issued some plates, in annual 

 reports, with details most perfectly delineated, and the colours 

 accurately reproduced. Such drawings a large number of work- 

 ing naturalists have found most useful, and plates of that 

 valuable character are far less expensive than costly heliotypes, 

 such as the present voluine contains. It is to be regretted that 

 some figures show nothing at all. Thus, figures 151 and 152 

 Plate XIII, resemble figures of policemen's batons, but really 

 are photographs of the Californian hag-fish. If the two figures 

 of the pickerel or pike-perch in Mr. Nash's Check List be com- 

 pared with the four very indistinct figures 112 and 113 

 (Stizostedion vitreimi) and figures 114 and 115 (Stizostedion 

 canadense), the contrast will be appreciated, and the lack of 

 scientific value in the latter realized. Very few of the figures in 

 these costly plates are of any scientific or practical utilit^^ The 

 compiler is not to blame for this. Photography in such cases is 

 the worst method to adopt. As to the work itself there is 

 evidence of painstaking industry, and, on the whole, much 

 accuracy. Occasionally a slip occurs, as, for example, the note 

 on page 55, which suggests that the fish called grayling in southern 

 Alberta is Thymallus tricolor montanus. It is nothing of the kind, 

 but is the active, gamey little whitefish, Coregonus williamsoni, 

 as the Commissioners of the Alberta Fishery Commission 

 (Marine Department, Ottawa, 1912, page 19,) distinctly stated. 

 The value of the work would have been greatly increased had 

 the author followed the plan of the Rhode Island Commission's 

 Check Lists and given some details, wherever possible, of the 

 spawning period and the nature of the eggs. Much information 

 has been recently accumulated in regard to that important phase 

 of fish life, and it is stated that a forthcoming Check List, to be 

 issued by the Biological Board, will include such valuable 

 scientific information. Mr. Halkett must, however, be con- 

 gratulated on completing a very handsome volume, involving 

 much thankless drudgery and consultation of authorities, and 

 the book fills a vacant place, much needing to be filled. 



C. 



