1893. 



SOME NEW BOOKS. 383 



For instance, we find it mentioned on page g that the apes obtained 

 during Hanno's " Periphis " were probably gorillas. Now it has been 

 conclusively shown that the place where Hanno touched was 

 Sherboro Island, in north latitude 7° 30", or 4'' 60" north of the range 

 of the gorilla ! If the creatures then obtained were anthropoids at all, 

 it is, therefore, evident that they must have been chimpanzees. So 

 far, however, as we are aware, no one has disproved the conclusion 

 reached by Mr. Winwood Reade, that the so-called "gorillas" were 

 really dog-faced baboons. 



Similarly we notice on page 352 a repetition of the old legend as 

 to the harmonious relations existing between the prairie-dogs and the 

 burrowing owls [Speotito), whereas Dr. Elliot Coues, and after him 

 Captain Bendire, have expressly stated that the owls certainly prey on 

 the young, and probably sometimes on the adults, of the "dogs." We 

 believe, moreover, that the idea of flying frogs (p. 103) has been proved 

 to be a myth. Then, again, we are told that the European beaver 

 never makes dams, although it did so in the 13th century. Has the 

 author, we may ask, any reason to discredit Meyernick's account of 

 the dam-building beavers near Magdeburg in 1829 ? 



In another passage (p. 116) the author observes that when " we 

 descend to the Lias and Trias and Carboniferous rocks we come upon 

 a great variety of" Labyrinthodonts. Now, although one of these 

 creatures occurs in the Lower Jurassic of Russia, we are unacquainted 

 with any Liassic representatives of the order, so that it is, in any 

 case, incorrect to speak of Labyrinthodonts as occurring " in great 

 variety " when we reach that formation. Later on (p. 373) the author 

 does injustice to himself in stating that chevrotains — without any 

 reference to the fact of the generic distinction of the African and 

 Asiatic forms — are common to the Ethiopian and Indian regions ; 

 while, when giving hunting-leopards as distinctive of the latter region 

 alone, he is incorrect. 



Most of the illustrations appear to have been specially executed 

 for the work, but we regret that we cannot congratulate the artist on 

 the result of his efforts, none of the figures being good from an 

 artistic point of view, while some — especially those of the seals — are 

 positively bad. It would, moreover, have been better had the artist 

 paid a little more attention to the relative sizes of the animals he 

 depicts. For instance, it is decidedly misleading to find the figure of 

 " the smallest anteater," on p. 256, far larger than that of " the 

 great anteater," two pages back ; and a similar remark will apply to 

 the proportions of the koala, on p. 49, compared with those of the 

 thylacine, on p. 47. 



While commending the book as a readable and instructive one 

 to those desirous of gaining some knowledge of vertebrate zoology, 

 apart from technical details, we cannot but regret the presence of the 

 errors alluded to above, which, we fear, will be accepted as gospel 

 when coming from the pen of a zoologist of the high standing of 

 Professor Mivart. R. L. 



A History and Description of the Modern Dogs (Sporting Division) of 

 Great Britain and Ireland. By R. B. Lee, 8vo. Pp. .xiv. and 584. Illus- 

 trated. London : Horace Cox, 1893. 



Till the appearance of Darwin's classic works on this subject, the 

 study of the various groups of domestic animals, and the extraordinary 

 modifications which have been produced in them by careful breeding, 



