128 NATURAL SCIENCE. February. 



props if the operator is, as Mr. Browne would have him, an artist, 

 and familiar at least with surface anatomy. What sculptor would 

 think of modelling clay upon a skeleton, when making the preliminary 

 model for some statue ? 



All will agree with the author in his contention that no " taxider- 

 mist ever has mounted, or ever will mount, a fish, amphibian, reptile, or 

 cetacean even decently, or with more than a remote approximation to 

 nature by any of the resources of their art known to them." Con- 

 sequently, we must resort to plaster-of-Paris models, full details concern- 

 ing the making of which will be found in this book. We are also offered 

 a choice between reproduction by means of layers of paper, or paper- 

 pulp worked into the plaster mould and lifted out when dry. With 

 both these methods Mr. Browne claims to have achieved great success. 

 Yet a third method — that of models in modelling glue. All these are 

 new, and we await the test of time with some curiosity. Certainly a 

 model in glue of a grass snake which is now exhibited in the 

 Leicester Museum leaves nothing to be desired. Many of the inverte- 

 brates, e.g., cephalopods, have been subjected to the glue model test. 



The chapter devoted to casting and modelling from natural foliage 

 is very fully and lucidly handled, and will prove invaluable to 

 many. 



The concluding pages of the book deal with the formation of 

 *' Pictorial groups of Mammals, Birds, etc." Here we are treated to a 

 charming word-picture of a Lincolnshire marsh in midsummer, which, 

 however, jars sadly with the accompanying cold-blooded account of the 

 slaughter of the poor unsuspecting birds who had made this quiet and 

 beautiful spot a temporary home. 



In conclusion we may add that the illustrations are for the most 

 part extremely good and to the point. In spite of the one or two 

 drawbacks to which we have drawn attention, the work is, and indeed 

 will long remain, the very best and most authoritative treatise we 

 possess on practical taxidermy. 



W.P.P. 

 Reproduction in Alce and Fungi. 



Die Bedingungen der Fortpflanzung bei einigen Algen dnd Pilzen. Von 

 Dr. Georg Klebs. 8vo. Pp. xviii., 543, with 3 plates and 15 figs, in text. Jena: 

 G. Fischer, 1896. Price 18 marks. 



We have before us the results of very numerous observations and 

 experiments forming the " special portion " of a general work on the 

 physiology of reproduction in lower organisms. The second part, 

 which will appear later, will be based on the results detailed in the 

 first, as well as on facts already known. We heartily commend this 

 plan of work. When a man has filled five hundred pages of text 

 with an account of his own observations, his general conclusions will 

 demand a certain respect and consideration. Whether they ulti- 

 mately prove to be right or wrong is another question. So far, the 

 author has put before us in a plain straightforward way the conditions 

 which accompany or seem to govern reproduction, both sexual and 

 asexual, in some common species of fresh- water Alga^ and Fungi. It 

 is open to anyone who is interested in this most interesting of 

 subjects to repeat and verify or disprove his observations. Vauckeria, 

 Hydrodidyon, Pvotosiphon, Bofrydiuni, Spirogyva, CEdogoniiun, Ulothvix, 

 Conferva, Chlamydomonas, and a few others represent the Algae, 

 Euvotinm repens and Mucov vacemosus are the objects of observation 

 among Fungi. 



A resume of some of the work on Vauckeria will give an idea of 



