i892. 



SOME NEW BOOKS. 395 



Atlas of Physical Geography : illustrating in a series of original designs the 

 elementary facts of Chartography, Geology, Topography, Hydrology, Meteoro- 

 logy, and Natural History. Edinburgh and London : W. & A. K. Johnston, 

 1892. Price i2s. 6d. 



This new edition has been thoroughly revised under the supervision 

 of Sir Archibald Geikie. It comprises 24 plates, with accompanying 

 letterpress. Of these plates nine are entirely new. They include neat 

 Geological Maps of the British Islands, Europe, and North America ; 

 a Map of the World, showing heights of the land and the depths of 

 the Ocean-basins ; Maps showing Isobaric Lines, and Prevailing 

 Winds of the World for January and July, Climatological Charts of 

 the World for January and July ; and a Chart of the World, 

 showing the forms and directions of the Ocean Currents. 



The Story of the Hills: A Popular Account of Mountains and How they were 

 Made. By Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, B.A., F.G.S. Pp. 357. Illustrations. 

 London : Seeley & Co., 1892. 



Few popular writers on Geology have surpassed Mr. Hutchinson 

 in clearness of style combined with accuracy of expression, and we 

 commend his new volume to the notice of all who desire a short 

 general exposition of the subject of mountains. It is a work that will 

 interest the most casual reader, and convey much solid information 

 in a pleasant form. The first third of the book deals with mountains 

 as they are ; the second two-thirds are devoted to purely geological 

 matters. Most of the illustrations are reproduced from fine 

 photographs of scenery. 



The last number of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1892, 

 pt. i., issued June ist), contains a number of papers on 

 systematic zoology, including papers on the Mammals, Reptiles, and 

 Batrachians of Barbary, by Dr. Anderson; of the Myriapods and 

 Arachnids of the same region, by Mr. Pocock. Mr. Thomas revises 

 the Hyracoidea, and Mr. Sclater has two papers on African 

 Mammals. Additions to the Insect fauna of Borneo and Africa are 

 made by Messrs. Butler, Gorham, and Gahan. Worms occupy 

 considerable attention, three of the most interesting papers in the 

 number relating to this group, and are contributed by Mr. Beddard 

 and Dr. Benham. The paper of most general interest is a very hetero- 

 dox paper by Mr. W. Bateson, in which he maintains that the 

 present idea of Homology is imperfect and " founded on a miscon- 

 ception of essential facts " ; he points out that the current theory 

 ignores variation, or assumes that any such variation respects the 

 individuality of each member of a series of structures such as teeth : 

 he shows by an extensive series of illustrations that variation is not 

 confined within any such narrow limits. Mr. Lydekker describes 

 a Sirenian jaw from the North Italian Aquitanian (Oligocene), 

 the nature of the teeth of which afford strong evidence in favour 

 of the order Sirenia having been 'evolved from some Artiodactyle 

 Ungulate with selenodont teeth. By adoption of new and 

 improved methods of treatment, Mr. M. F. Woodward has 

 succeeded in settling the old question of the dentition of Hyrax ; 

 it is interesting to note that his work was mainly done on the 

 specimens used by Professor Huxley in his well-known paper of 1863. 



