jgg, J Recent Literature. IQ^ 



confess ignorance, which is after all what the whole proceeding plainly 

 shows. 



Plate IV furnishes a very striking and interesting illustration of head- 

 markings, with arrows arranged to show how one form of marking may 

 have been derived from another, and how all may be reduced to five 

 general types. As, however, the birds representing the successive stages 

 of modification belong usually to distantly related genera, or even fami- 

 lies, and as the relationships, as our author says in the text (p. 187) "are 

 not supposed to be genetic," it may be asked, Of what practical utility is 

 this elaborate generalization ? Or what light does it throw upon the real 

 method of evolution of these various patterns? 



Great stress is laid upon the "primitive streaked plumage," and upon 

 the streaked feather as a primitive type. While this may be true in a 

 restricted sense, and form a test of grade in a group of closely allied 

 species, it fails when taken in a general sense, as for instance in com- 

 paring Pigeons and Tinamous (genus Tinamus) as groups with Thrushes 

 and Sparrows, or many 'low' groups with higher ones. 



While Mr. Keeler's book is highly original in both conception and exe- 

 cution, and exceedingly novel and interesting in its pictorial illustrations, 

 it displays, we are pained to say, much misdirected energy; and unless the 

 lay reader and the novice keep in mind the opening paragraph of the 

 preface, they are liable to acquire a large amount of misinformation. — 

 J. A. A. 



Beddard's 'Animal Coloration.' 1 — The present volume, says the author, 

 is addressed to persons having no special knowledge of zoology, and its 

 aim is "to furnish a general notion of the facts and theories relating to 

 Animal Coloration.' "It contains hardly anything novel, but professes 

 to give some account of the principal phenomena of coloration exhibited 

 by animals." It is thus mainly a review of previous theories and the facts 

 on which they are based, with a running critical commentary represent- 

 ing the views of the author respecting the many disputed points at issue. 

 It consists of six chapters, having the following headings : I. 'Introduc- 

 tory. — The Principal Facts of Animal Coloration' (pp. 1-41) ; II. 'Colora- 

 tion affected by the Environment' (pp. 42-82) ; III. 'Protective Coloration' 

 (pp. 83-147) ; IV. 'Warning Coloration' (pp. 14S-192) ; V. 'Protective 

 Mimicry' (pp. 193-252); VI. 'Sexual Coloration' (pp. 253-282). 



Mr. Beddard distinguishes 'Colour' from 'Coloration,' the former relat- 

 ing to the actual tints, the latter to the arrangement or pattern of these 

 tints. Colors are due either solely to the presence of definite pigments, 



1 Animal Coloration | an Account of | The Principal Facts and Theories | relating to 

 ths I Colors and Markings of Animals. | By | Frank E. Beddard, M. A. Oxon., F. R. 

 S. E., etc., I Prosector to the Zoological Society of London, Lecturer on Biology at 

 Guy's Hospital | With Four Colored Plates; and Woodcuts in the Text | [Mono- 

 gram] London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. | New York: Macmillan & Co. | 1892. 

 — 8vo, pp. viii, 288. 



