"inia ' /•'"' ni LiU ral 28o 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Scharff's 'Distribution and Origin of Life in America.' '— Dr. 

 Scharff's ' Distribution and ' Origin of J. iff in America' is of extreme into 

 ami of great value • tudent of tin- profound and fascinating prob- 



lems discussed, whether or not hi- conclu with the reader's 



ptance. To tii« investigator it is extremely welcome for its biblio- 

 hical citations and summaries of fact and opinion put forth by his 

 predecessors in tin- same field To 'I.'; layman it may be misleading if too 

 importance is given to the au1 • at ion- am] infer* i 



.\ striking feature is the confidence the author manifests in his conclu- 

 sions, regardless in many instances of the present inadequacy of our knowl- 

 of the biology ami tli'- geological history of the greater part of the 

 areas he as though our present information regarding these 



aubji to I" looked upon as practically final. Climatic conditions 



as barriers to the distribution of life and the former wide distribution of 

 types from which their presenl modified representatives have 

 necessarily descended, appear to receive very little consideration. Re- 

 semblances through convergence of characters due to environment between 

 groups geographically widely separated are rarely given serious considera- 

 tion, and a tendency is evident to belittle the influence of tides, currents, 

 ami other fortuitous means of dispersion. The fact that what we do not 

 know of the fossil content and the geological history of vast areas of South 

 America and of other parts of the world that require consideration in the 

 author's theme, is simply immense in comparison with the known, is rarely 

 recognized in the present work. Neither does the paucity of our knowledge 

 of the existing plant and animal life of Central and South America appear 

 to have received due recommit ion. Among the birds and mammals of these 

 great regions new species, ami often new genera, are discovered in every 

 new collection that reaches the hands of the expert, while the range of 

 many forms long known to science is greatly and often most unexpectedly 

 aded whenever a collector trained in modern methods of field work 

 enter- tropica] America. As it is safe to say that the mammals and birds 

 Jouth America and Out ral America are far better known than the 

 representatives of any other class, it seems not rash to claim that our 

 knowledge of obscure and not easily observed forms of invertebrate life 

 is far too imperfect to warrant dogmatism in treating of their origin and 



i Distribution ami Origin or Life in America B; Robert Francis Scharff| 

 I'll. l> li. -c Author of "European Animals, their Geological Bistory and Geo- 

 graphical Distribution." Corresponding Member of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia; of the Senckenberg Natural History Society. Frankfurt 

 am Main; of the Linnean 9ocietj of Bordeaux; and of the Anthropological 8ociety 

 of Paris New York The Macmilian Company 1 1012 — 8vo, i<p rvi + 497, 



16 map |3 00 net. 



