March. 1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 219 



mode of life, of the Black \'ulture, the Upland Goose, and the 

 Crested Tinamou, as well as of several of the smaller birds. Perhaps 

 the most generally interesting chapter in the whole book is that 

 on " Bird-music," in the course of which the author points out how 

 impossible it is to convey any adequate idea of the songs of birds by 

 mere description. He illustrates this by mentioning that before he 

 had ever visited England he was anxious to obtain some idea of the 

 nature of the melody of the British songsters, but that all his efforts 

 were in vain. And the description of his delight at first hearing the 

 music of our English fields and groves ought to remind us all how 

 little we really appreciate, as a rule, the natural charms of our own 

 land. Possibly some further development of the phonograph may 

 be the ultimate means by which " Bird-music " may be rendered 

 comprehensible to those who cannot hear it at first hand, as we 

 greatly doubt if this can ever be effected by any merely graphic 

 method. 



Of scarcely less interest is the author's description of the ways of 

 the leaf-bearing ants, on pp. 140-141 ; while those whose special study 

 is Mammals will not fail to notice the observations on the burrowing 

 Tuco-tuco (Ctenomys) and the Mara (DolicJiotis). As the author well 

 remarks, it is very curious to find in a burrowing animal the eyes of 

 so large a size as they are in the former of these two rodents. 



In commending this book to the attention 'of our readers, we 

 may express a hope that it will ere long be followed by others from 

 the same ready pen. R. L. 



The Great Sea-Serpent : An Historical and Critical Treatise. With the reports 

 of 187 appearances (including those of the appendix), the suppositions and 

 suggestions of scientific and non-scientific persons, and the Author's conclusions. 

 With 82 illustrations. By A. C. Oudemans, Jzn. Published by the Author, 

 October, 1892. London : Luyac & Co. 



Of this work we give two reviews, the one by a naturalist, the 

 other by a literary contributor. 



I. 



The author in his preface compares his work with that of Chladni on 

 meteoric stones. Chladni, he says, opened the eyes of unbelievers by 

 collecting and comparing all accounts of meteoric stones up to the 

 nineteenth century. Meteoric stones were again found and were 

 proved to be quite different from terrestrial stones. Unfortunately 

 for the argument, remarkably few sea-serpents have been caught, and 

 those few have proved to be not at all different from well-known 

 objects. 



We confess to have found Oudemans' book exceedingly dul 

 reading. 379 pages are devoted to genuine or invented accounts of 

 various appearances ; no to explanations hitherto given. No doubt 

 it is useful to have the literature of the subject compiled, but the 

 author might have contented himself with a much greater compression 

 of the interminable newspaper discussions, evidence on oath of sailors 

 and fishermen, and so forth. We do not see that he advances at ail 

 beyond Mr. Hoyle's bright and short account of the sea-serpent in the 

 " Encyclopaedia Britannica." A number of the records are pure 

 myths ; some others are due to mistaken observations of floating sea- 

 weed ; porpoises swimming in a row ; basking sharks, and so forth. 

 The persistent records from the Norwegian coasts are most probably 

 explained by the existence of gigantic cuttle-fish ; and there remains 



