348 NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 



minute structure of the epithelial, muscular and glandular layers of 

 which it it composed. The greater part of the volume is occupied by 

 a systematic account of the various groups. The classification 

 employed is broadly popular, including for instance Amphioxus and 

 the cyclostomes among fishes, but it serves well enough as a guide to 

 the contents of the volume. We have spied minutely into the 

 author's use and knowledge of the literature of the subject in various 

 branches, and we have never found him wanting. A large number of 

 figures, reproduced or original, are given; the index, references, and 

 bibliography seem admirable, and we have nothing but the highest 

 praise for the accomplishment of a laborious and useful task. 



A Catalogue of Mammals. 



Catalogus Mammalium, tam Viventium quam fossilium, a Dr. E. L. 

 Trouessart. Nova editio (primus completa). Fasciculus I. — Primates, 

 Prosimiae, Chiroptera, Insectivora. Pp.218. Berlin: R. Friedlander und Sohn, 

 1897. Price 10 marks. 



Few works of so unpretending a character have been of greater 

 service to working mammalogists than the " Catalogue des 

 Mammiferes vivants et fossiles " published by Dr. Trouessart in 

 1879-86, and as it is now both out of date and almost unobtainable, 

 the present revised edition of it will certainly receive a cordial 

 welcome. The original edition was never completed, mainly, we 

 believe, on account of the difficulty of finding a publisher, and it speaks 

 little for French enterprise that the learned author of this list has now 

 had to send it to BerHn to be published. 



As may be gathered from the title of this fascicule, the author 

 considers the Lemurs to be worthy of full ordinal rank. While many 

 naturalists would have agreed with him on this pcapt a short time ago, 

 Dr. Major's discovery of Nesopithecus [see Naturm. Science, vol. x., 

 p. 83) would perhaps make them pause, as its evident relationship 

 both to monkeys and lemurs would seem to reduce the width of the 

 gap between them. 



The new edition is got up by Messrs. Friedlander in a style 

 far superior to the previous one, is better, printed, and, considering 

 the thousands of names and references that crowd its pages, there 

 seem to be remarkably few misprints. Indeed, in the 218 closely 

 printed pages of which the part consists, we have only noticed some 

 three or four ordinary misprints, although there are a score or more 

 due to the practice of giving capital letters to specific names derived 

 from persons. This plan, besides its other demerits, seems, owing to 

 its destroying the uniformity of the printing, to offer exceptional 

 facilities for such errors. Thus we notice Scapulatiis, Centuvio, 

 Samoensis, Satynts, Gorilla, Nictitans, and sancti-Johannis, all printed in a 

 manner contrary to the author's general rule in such cases. 



The geographical distribution of each species has been carefully 

 recorded ; but it would have been a boon to workers, if the typical 

 locality for each synonym had been printed separately opposite the 

 name, instead of being lumped up with a " ditto " under the general 

 range for the whole. For knowledge of the type-locality for every 

 synonym of any species under review is a prime necessity to the 

 worker, and the form of Dr. Trouessart's list is such that this 

 information could have been, and we hope in future fasciculi may be, 

 easily inserted without increase of space or labour. 



Being avowedly a compilation, the subject-matter is scarcely open 

 to criticism, and we can only congratulate Dr. Trouessart on the full 



