l892. 



SOME NEW BOOKS. 553 



Birds ; together with such a knowledge of their structure, activities, 

 geological and geographical relations, and classification, as may fit the 

 student to enter upon a serious study of Ornithology." Dr. Mivart 

 has set himself to accomplish this task in 306 small 8vo pages, which 

 are illustrated by 170 woodcuts. The first half of the book contains 

 a brief account, copiously illustrated — no less than 140 of the wood- 

 cuts are to be found in this " Introduction " — of the principal kinds of 

 birds, and these illustrations, although rough, are effective enough 

 and accurate. There are, perhaps, rather too many of the passerine 

 birds, which often do not present salient differences that can be duly 

 emphasised without the assistance of colour. 



The anatomical part of the book is, in our opinion, not full enough 

 for the beginner to whom Dr. Mivart addresses himself; it would 

 have been better, we think, to give a more elementary account of a 

 bird's structure at greater length, and with abundant illustration ; or, 

 on the other hand, the author might have contented himself with a 

 description of those structures which vary most among birds, and 

 which are therefore made use of for classificatory purposes. A person 

 with a knowledge of comparative anatomy does not want such an 

 abridged account as that which Dr. Mivart gives, for he has the 

 excellent and elaborate treatises of Professor Fiirbringer and Dr. 

 Gadow ; and for a beginner, with presumably no knowledge of 

 anatomy, the chapter on structure would be decidedly too stiff. A 

 very useful feature to ornithologists in the book before us is the list 

 of structural characters that is given with each group in the classifica- 

 tion which concludes the volume. 



Les Plantes Alexiteres de l'Amerique. By H. Bocquillon-Limousin. 8vo- 

 Pp. 120. Paris, 1892. 



Serpents, with their deadly bites, form one of the greatest scourges 

 of the New World as well as Asia. In some parts the mortality is 

 very great, as, for example, in Martinique, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, 

 and the Argentine Republic. Happily for humanity, the flora of the 

 country affords an antidote, and the object of this little book is to 

 give an account of those tropical and sub-tropical American plants 

 which experience has shown to be thus useful. The author evidently 

 believes in a somewhat subtle relation between the flora and fauna, 

 for, in concluding, he states his belief in the principle that the 

 bite of a serpent must be counteracted by the action of a plant of 

 the same country. As, however, he likewise affirms that the poison 

 is nullified only by the adverse physiological action of the plant itself, 

 not by that of the definite chemical principle contained, and also 

 suggests elsewhere that the action of dried plants is very different 

 from that of freshly-gathered plants, it is obvious why the serpent 

 and the antidote must flourish in the same neighbourhood ; otherwise, 

 his statement seems based only upon the fact that the Condor of 

 Ecuador always has recourse, when bitten, to the Gonolobus con- 

 duvango, and similarly the Guaco heron of the Magdalena Valley to 

 the Mikania guaco ; while, according to authors, the latter plant is 

 powerless against the Trigonocephalus of Martinique. 



Under the botanical name of the plant is given the synonymy 

 including native names. Then follow the habitat, a botanical 

 description, and the therapeutic properties. In the more 

 important cases, the account is a full one, including the minute 

 anatomy of the stem, with sometimes illustrations of transverse 



