1895. SOME NEW BOOKS. 139 



The author is quite clear in his conviction that changes are 

 taking place on the moon at the present time, and that exhalations 

 are given off which temporarily obscure certain features. He 

 therefore suggests the detailed study of limited areas, in order to 

 check any such variations in structure or appearance. Some of the 

 cases he quotes, of the disappearance and sometimes reappearance of 

 certain features, are very striking, and certainly seem to prove that 

 the moon is not a dead changeless world and burnt-out planet, as it is 

 so often described. 



J. W. G. 

 The Birds of Brazil. 



As Ayes Do Brazil, Primeira Parte. Por Emilio Augusto Goeldi, Dr. Ph. ; 

 Director do Museu Paraense Livraria Classica de Alves, Rio de Janeiro, 1894. 

 Pp. 311. 



This little volume is the first part of a work to be completed in two 

 parts upon the birds of Brazil. The first part, now before us, con- 

 tains introductory matter and an account of the raptores, psittaa, 

 picariae, and passeres. The method of classification adopted is plain 

 and old-fashioned, with no attempts at modernity. The owls are 

 grouped with the raptorial birds, the screamers are placed among 

 " grallatorial " birds, between storks and ibises; while the natatores 

 remain the strange assortment of web-footed creatures as in earliest 

 attempts at classification. However, this detracts nothing from the 

 value of the book, which simply is a straightforward guide to the birds 

 of Brazil. It should prove useful to ornithologists, especially to those 

 who have an opportunity of visiting that country, and its portable 

 form will make it more serviceable than more detailed illustrated 

 books. 



Dr. Goeldi has prepared some interesting tables of the distribu- 

 tion of birds, showing the peculiar families, and the range of families 

 that occur also in other regions. These, however, contain no novel 

 matter, and, although we highly recommend this little book as a 

 useful guide to its subject-matter, we cannot assign it any value as a 

 contribution to science. 



The June number of Knowledge, which has been sent us by the 

 publishers, shows that this popular monthly continues to purvey for 

 a large public interesting facts and theories of science " simply 

 worded and exactly described." Special praise is due to the plates, 

 of which the present number contains two, one an excellent repro- 

 duction of twenty-three Greek coins, the other showing photographs 

 of two portions of the moon. The number contains an interesting 

 article by Mr. Lydekker on the origin of the giant birds of South 

 America. 



Those connected with museums will be interested to hear of the 

 establishment of a new journal, entitled Revue Internationale des Archives, 

 des Bibliotheques et dcs M usees, published in Paris by H. Welter, 59 Rue 

 Bonaparte, and issued in three separately paged sections, headed 

 respectively "Archives," "Bibliotheques," and " Musees." The 

 annual subscription is twenty francs. 



