1896. SOME NEW BOOKS. 131 



The Lower Vertebrates. 



The Royal Natural History. Edited by R. Lydekker. Parts 26-30. London : 

 F. Warne & Co., 1896. 



We have already referred in terms of high commendation to the 

 admirable up-to-date " Natural History " which Messrs. Warne and 

 Co. have placed within reach of the general public. We have now 

 received the completion of the section devoted to vertebrate animals, 

 and can merely endorse those expressions. The editor himself has 

 contributed the chapters on reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and " semi- 

 vertebrates," which are contained in the parts before us ; and the 

 coloured plates are all new, expressly designed and drawn by ]\Ir. P. 

 J. Smit. We should be disposed to criticise the vivid colouring 

 of some of these illustrations, but on the whole they are very 

 ■effective, while those of the wall-lizards and salmon are especially 

 pleasing. 



The chief feature in the account of the lower vertebrates is the 

 classification of the fishes, in which Mr. Lydekker has followed the 

 palaeontologists. The " Ganoidei," as an order or sub-class, have thus 

 disappeared, and the arrangement is approximately that of the 

 British IMuseum Catalogue of Fossil Fishes, of which we reviewed a 

 volume last June. The order of treatment of the various groups is 

 .alone different, and this we can hardly admit to be an improvement. 

 As a concise general account of fishes, that of the " Royal Natural 

 History" has pleased us more than any we have previously seen, and 

 ■students of these animals will welcome so cheap and handy a com- 

 pendium. 



A Course of Practical Zoology. 



Elementarcurs der Zootomie. By Drs. B. Hatschek and C. J. Cori. 8vo. 

 Pp. viii., 104. Pis. xviii., and 4 figs, in text. Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1896. 

 Price 6 mark 50 pf. 



This course is arranged in fifteen sections, each adapted for a practical 

 lesson of two hours' duration, and the authors vouch for the possi- 

 bility of covering the ground in the time, having already worked 

 according to the scheme for the past ten years. The course is so 

 designed that all the observations may be made macroscopically — a 

 fact which is to be deplored, inasmuch as it precludes the study of 

 unicellular animals, without which no course of zoology, however 

 elementary, can be considered complete. Moreover, the excuse given 

 by the authors for not including a ccelenterate may be regarded by 

 many as insufficient to warrant the omission. With these exceptions, 

 the animals considered are mostly those which are usually dissected 

 in zoological laboratories — viz., the freshwater mussel, snail, crayfish, 

 cockroach, earthworm, leech, and frog. Apus is a welcome addition, 

 and in furnishing an account of the anatomical structure of the 

 salamander the authors have made an important contribution to 

 laboratory literature, the only succinct account hitherto of the 

 anatomy of this animal being that of Rusconi, published some forty 

 years ago. 



A book of this kind (in fact, one might say every book) must be 

 judged according to the special object for which it is produced, and 

 since the present work is, as expressly stated in the preface, only 

 intended as a laboratory guide for students who are also attending a 

 ■course of lectures, it is difficult, without knowing something about 

 ihose lectures, to discuss its merits and demerits. Thus, the descrip- 



