1865.] reviews. 471 



REVIEWS. 



Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum op Compara- 

 ttve Zoology, at Harvard College. No. 1. Ophiu- 

 RnLE, &C. By Theodore Lyman. 



To a working naturalist, no publication is more acceptable 

 than an illustrated descriptive catalogue of an extensive collection ; 

 and no work requires more care and patient application. Good 

 museum catalogues, owing to the labor and expense they involve, 

 are of rare occurrence; and the thanks of all naturalists are due 

 to the director of the Cambridge Museum, Professor Agassiz, for 

 this excellent beginning of a work which it is to be hoped will be 

 continued in many successive numbers. The work of this cata- 

 logue is exceedingly well done, both in regard to scientific accu- 

 racy and mechanical and artistic execution. We could have 

 wished, however, that the authors' names had not been changed 

 in cases where a species is referred to a new genus. This not only 

 deprives the original describer of due credit, but interferes with 

 the facility of reference. The difficulty would be better met by 

 giving the original author of the specific name with the letters Sp. 

 following. In the present work the mode followed causes a large 

 number of old familiar species to be referred to the author of this 

 catalogue, who has merely changed the genus. In making this 

 remark, however, we do not wish in the least to detract from the 

 merits of this very excellent catalogue, or more properly descriptive 

 monograph. The objects sought to be attained by its publication 

 are thus stated by Prof. Agassiz : — 



" The publication of the Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology has been undertaken with a threefold object. 

 In the first place, like the catalogues of most institutions of a simi- 

 lar character, it is intended to make the contents of our Museum 

 generally known, and to facilitate our exchanges. In the second 

 place, to be the medium of publication of the novelties received at 

 the Museum, which require to be described and illustrated by 

 diagrams or wood-cuts, or more elaborate plates. Finally, it is 

 hoped that it may be the basis of a systematic revision of such 

 natural groups of the animal kingdom as are most fully repre- 

 sented in our collections, and that it may, as far as possible, 

 present to the scientific world the results of the investigations 



