5 66 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ply the direct ancestors of existing genera 

 and species of birds, from which, in the ma- 

 jority of instances, they hardly departed ; 

 and they suggest questions why certain types 

 should have perished without leaving any 

 apparent descendants, while others, seeming 

 to enjoy no more favorable conditions, have 

 been preserved. 



The elaborate memoir of Profs. W. K. 

 Brooks and F. H. Herrick on The Embry- 

 ology and Life History of the Macroura is 

 based upon the studies by Prof. Brooks of 

 the larval stages of the order continued at 

 every opportunity during ten years, in con- 

 nection with the Marine Laboratory of Johns 

 Hopkins University, and upon studies of the 

 life histories of additional species made by 

 himself at Beaufort, N. C, and Green Turtle 

 Key and New Providence in the Bahamas, 

 and (chiefly) by Prof. Herrick under his gen- 

 eral supervision. Marine crustaceans are re- 

 garded by the author as of exceptional value 

 for the study of the laws of larval develop- 

 ment and for the analysis of secondary adap- 

 tations as distinguished from the influence of 

 ancestry by reason of the greater stability 

 of their inorganic environment as compared 

 with that of land animals, permitting greater 

 persistency of type; and of the more defi- 

 nite character of the changes that make up 

 their life history. The memoir, of about 

 forty quarto pages, is illustrated by fifty- 

 seven large colored plates. 



Stone and Hilling are two monthly maga- 

 zines the fields of which are indicated by 

 their titles, published by the D. H. Ranck 

 Publishing Company, Indianapolis, Ind. The 

 tables of contents embrace a variety of in- 

 formation, technical, practical, and popular, 

 on stone-quarrying and working the kinds of 

 stone available in the arts, road-making, con- 

 tracting, and building, in the former maga- 

 zine ; and the operations, industries, econo- 

 mies, financial interests, etc., connected with 

 the art of preparing grain for food, in the 

 latter. 



A convenient epitome Sketch of the Geol- 

 ogy of Alabama is published by Eugene Allen 

 Smith, State Geologist, in which a general 

 comprehensive survey of the formations is 

 given in a small space. As appears from 

 the table appended, the formations repre- 

 sented are the Archasan (crystalline schists), 

 Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carbonifer- 



ous, Cretaceous, the three Tertiaries, the 

 Pleistocene, and the Recent. 



The Royal Road to Beauty, Health, and a 

 Higher Development is described in a pam- 

 phlet of 85 pages, by Carrica Le Favre, as 

 lying through a vegetarian life. The author 

 has complete faith in her doctrine, writes 

 forcibly, and, together with some assertion 

 that is only opinion, presents some strong 

 arguments. Published by the Fowler & 

 Wells Company. Price, 25 cents. 



The Government Printing Office has pub- 

 lished, in 1892, the Report of the United 

 States Commissioner of Fish and Fisluries 

 for the year ending June 30, 1889, a pam- 

 phlet of 128 pages. The year was the first 

 one of operations as a branch of the public 

 service distinct from the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. The inquiry respecting food fishes 

 and the fishing grounds was continued, with 

 more attention to details than in preceding 

 years, the first surveys being necessarily 

 general in their character. The most impor- 

 tant seacoast inquiries were those conducted 

 by the steamer Albatross in the North Pa- 

 cific Ocean. On the Atlantic coast the 

 steamer Fish Hawk was assigned to special 

 investigations having reference to the oyster 

 grounds of Long Island Sound and Rhode 

 Island. Other sea work was done in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. An essentially novel feature 

 of the scientific work was the systematic 

 investigation of interior waters with respect 

 to their physical and natural-history charac- 

 teristics. 



Physical Education is a monthly magazine 

 devoted to physical culture, published by the 

 Triangle Publishing Company, Springfield, 

 Mass., Luther O-ulick, M. D., and James Nai- 

 smith, editors, of which specimen numbers 

 have been sent us. It has among its con- 

 tributors some of the best-known physical 

 culturists in the country. Some of the arti- 

 cles in the numbers before us are on Ventila- 

 tion in the Gymnasium, by R. A. Clark, 

 M. D. ; Physical Education in its Relation to 

 the Mental and Spiritual Life of Women ; 

 Bicycling for Women ; Form in Gymnastics, 

 by Dr. W. G. Anderson ; Gymnastic Classi- 

 fication, and others of like bearing. 



The Report of Robert T. Hill, Assistant 

 Geologist, On the Occurrence of Artesian and 

 other Underground Waters in Texas, Eastern 

 New Mexico, and Indian Territory, West of 



