Sept., 1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 227 



Handbook of Paleontology. [Handbuch der Paleontologie.] By K. A. 

 vonZittel. Vol. iv, pt. ii. Pp. 305-592. Munich and Leipsic : R. Oldenbourg, 

 1893. Price 10 marks 50 pf. 



As briefly mentioned in our last number, where we gave a notice of 

 the preliminary issue of the Introduction, this important work is now 

 fast approaching completion, and we have the pleasure of welcoming 

 the second fasciculus of the volume devoted to Mammals. 



This part, which fully maintains the high standard of its pre- 

 decessors, contains the greater portion of the Ungulates, which 

 are concluded, together with the Rodents, Insectivores, Bats, and the 

 commencement of the Creodont Carnivores. We are glad to observe 

 that among the Ungulates special attention is devoted to the numerous 

 South American forms which have been described of late years ; 

 and we may safely say that nowhere else can the student obtain 

 so much information on a very difficult subject in a very short 

 space. In regard to the arrangement of the Ungulates, the 

 author, while following in the main the divisions into sub-orders 

 adopted by most modern writers, makes a new departure in respect of 

 the limits of families. He takes, for instance, the Suidae to include 

 genera so widely different from the typical forms as Achcenodon and 

 Chceyopotamus, while the Anoplotheriidae embraces the Caenotheres, 

 Dichobunes, and Dichodons, and under the Cervidae are ranged, not 

 only the Deer, but likewise the Giraffes and Sivatheres. We confess 

 that this arrangement is not to our liking, as it involves the intro- 

 duction of a number of sub-family names ; while the inclusion of the 

 Giraffe and its allies in the same family as the Deer tends to obscure 

 their manifest affinities in some respects with the Bovidae. In dis- 

 carding the sections Tragulinae and Pecora, we are, however, persuaded 

 that, from a palseontological standpoint, the author is correct, since, 

 as we ourselves have previously urged, it is impossible to draw any 

 line of demarcation between the Tertiary Deer and Chevrotains. 

 That the Professor should have seen reason to employ family names 

 in such a wide sense is the more surprising to us, seeing that among 

 the Ungulates he splits up many groups, such as the Elephants, 

 Oxen, and Uintatheres, into so-called genera, which it has been the 

 tendency of modern writers to ignore. We are pleased to notice 

 that the author fully confirms the view that the three-toed Eury- 

 theriums of the Vaucluse Oligocene are not generically separated from 

 the typical Anoplotheres of the Paris Basin ; but we should like to be 

 more fully assured that the latter were likewise tridactylate. So far, 

 indeed, as the casts of Cuvier's typical specimens in the British 

 Museum admit of forming a judgment, the Paris specimens certainly 

 appear to have been didactylate ; and an important difference in the 

 form of the astragalus in the specimens from the two localities has been 

 noticed by several writers. As a minor criticism, we may mention 

 that we cannot assent to the inclusion of the Hartebeests in the same 

 group as the Gemsbok and Sable antelope, the cheek-teeth of the two 

 being so essentially different ; while the writer of this notice may 

 take the opportunity of disclaiming the position of sponsor to the 

 genus Helicophorus assigned to him on page 418. 



As the treatment of the other orders described in this fasci- 

 culus does not call for any special notice, we may conclude with the 

 hope that we shall soon have the opportunity of congratulating the 

 learned author and his able colleagues on the completion of their 

 arduous and monumental task. 



R. L. 

 Q 2 



