1896. SOME NEW BOOKS. 133 



accessible to them a text-book which is at once comprehensive yet 

 simple, and, as we have said before of the German edition, better 

 than any English text-book or translation of similar scope. The 

 translators, in their preface, observe that Dr. Boas gives prominence 

 to facts rather than to theories. Must we not have the proverbial 

 straw, not to mention the actual clay, before we can make bricks ? 



The Names of the Foraminifera. 



An Index to the Genera and Species of the Foraminifera. By Charles 



Davies Sherborn. Part 2 (Non. to Z). From Smithsonian Miscellaneous 



Collections, vol. xxxvii. (no. 1031). 8vo. Pp. i.-iv., 241-48S. Washington: 

 Smithsonian Institution, 1896. 



Part one of this laborious compilation was reviewed in Natural 

 Science for May, 1894. The appearance of the second, and con- 

 cluding part, allows us to repeat what we then said. The book is 

 invaluable to the student of the Foraminifera, and we learn from the 

 preface the true purpose of the author in spending so many years on 

 its production. Mr. Sherborn points out that many authors take up 

 the description of the Foraminifera without the adequate knowledge 

 necessary, and without the facilities desirable for a proper study of 

 the literature. By the publication of this Index to the works of all 

 authors between 1565 and 1888, he has made it imperative for all 

 those who write to examine carefully that which has been done before 

 their tim.e. There can now, therefore, be no excuse for any author to 

 publish as new, old and well-known forms. We sincerely hope the 

 ideal set forth will be realised ; many authors, now-a-days, are only 

 too keen to make " types," and whether they are valid or not is 

 quite a secondary matter to them. 



This part of the Index opens with the conclusion of Nonionina, 

 and includes, of course, the difficult genera, Nummnlitcs, Orbitoides, etc. 

 The preface is admirably short, and calls attention, among other 

 matters, to the method of quotation employed, viz., that of adding 

 the name of the original authors to every reference. For instance, 

 Mr. Sherborn says that great trouble is often caused by quotations 

 like '■'■ Cnstellaria cultrata, Brady, Report 'Challenger,' etc.," when 

 really " Cristellaria cultrata (Montfort), Brady, etc.," is meant; a 

 trouble we have often ourselves experienced. 



That no labour has been spared in rendering this work complete 

 is shown by the five pages of additamenta and corrigenda, and we 

 offer our congratulations to Mr. Sherborn on the publication of a work 

 which has been on his hands eleven years, and thank the Smithsonian 

 Institution for giving it to zoologists. 



Serials and Announcements. 



We have received nos. 8 and 9 of vol. ii. of La Natnraleza (Mexico, 

 1894, 1S95). P. Maury describes Sebastiania Ramirezii, a new species 

 of Euphorbiaceae, and on it some further notes are given by J. Ramirez. 

 A. Duges communicates an account of Hemichirotes tvidactylus, as well 

 as some descriptions of new species of Trombidiuiii and Spha;voma by 

 Messrs. Trouessart and A. DoUfus. A new species of Ptevostemon, one 

 of the Rosaceae, is described by J. Ramirez. E. Ordonez describes 

 a fragment of granitic rock found in the volcano Ceboruco, and A. 

 Duges figures a fossil footprint from the Upper Pliocene or Pleistocene 

 of San Juan de los Lagos, which he ascribes to a large species of 

 Felis, different apparently from the ordinary Felis concolov of Mexico. 



