222 



NA TURE 



\yan. 20, 1876 



relative importance of the facts which are introduced is 

 weighed, adds a charm to the subject equal to that which 

 it already possesses. " Fossil Birds," " Sub-fossil Birds," 

 '' Birds recently extirpated," " Birds partially extermi- 

 nated," " The Geographical Distribution of Birds," " Mi- 

 gration," " Song," " Nidification," " Eggs," and " Moult," 

 are the headings of the various sections of his subject ; 

 the whole occupying about fifty pages- of the " Encyclo- 

 paedia ; " that on Distribution being of considerably the 

 greatest length, as it is fairly exhaustive in its account of 

 the avifauna of the different regions. Speaking of the 

 general principles of zoogeography, first laid down by 

 Mr. Sclater in 1857, Prof, Newton remarks that "without 

 infringing upon what must be deemed the generalities of 

 biological distribution, it is proper to observe that Mr. 

 Sclater's success is to be attributed to the method in 

 which his investigations were carried on — a method in 

 which he had but few predecessors. Instead of looking 

 at the earth's surface from the point of view which the 

 geographer would take of it (a point of view which had 

 hitherto been adopted by most writers), mapping out the 

 world according to degrees of latitude and longitude, 

 determining its respective portions of land and water 

 entirely regardless of the products of either element, or 

 adhering to its political divisions — time-honoured as they 

 were— he endeavoured to solve the question simply as a 

 zoologist should, by taking up the branch of the subject 

 with which he was best acquainted, and by pointing out 

 and defining the several regions of the globe in con- 

 formity with the various aspects of ornithic life which 

 they present. But herein there was at once a grave diffi- 

 culty to be encountered. Birds being of all mammals 

 most particularly adapted for extended and rapid loco- 

 motion, it became necessary for him to eliminate from 

 his consideration those groups, be they large or small, 

 which are of more or less universal occurrence, and 

 to ground his results on what was at that time com- 

 monly known as the order Incessores, or Passeres^ com- 

 prehending the orders now generally differentiated as 

 Passcres {vera;), Picarice, and Psittaci. On this basis, then. 

 Dr. Sclater was enabled to set forth " that the surface 

 of the globe exhibited six great regions," an account of 

 each of which is given in detail, with the light thrown 

 upon them by more modern research. 



As might be imagined, the section on " Birds recently 

 extirpated " is a more complete and accurate rhumd of 

 their history than any other extant, the Starling of 

 Rdunion [Fregilupus varius), the Solitaire of Rodriguez 

 {Pezophaps solitarius), and the Crested Parrot of Mau- 

 ritius {Lophopsittacus mauritiatms\ being figured as well 

 as described. 



The article " Biology " is by Prof. Huxley and Mr W. 

 T. T. Dyer. The subject is treated generally by the 

 former author in his well-known style, whilst Mr, Dyer 

 gives the principles of classification of the vegetable king- 

 dom as they are now understood by the most advanced 

 botanists. 



Prof. Huxley classifies the phenomena of life under 

 four headings :— i. Morphology ; 2. Distribution ; 3. Phy- 

 siology ; and 4. Etiology. The last of these, from its 

 theoretical nature, presents features of more especial in- 

 terest. With reference to the doctrine of spontaneous 

 generation we read : " It has been pointed out at the 



commencement of this article that the range of high tem- 

 peratures between the lowest, at which some living things 

 are certainly killed, and the highest, at which others cer- 

 tainly live, is rather more than 100° Fahr. It makes no 

 sort of difference to the argument how living beings have 

 come to be able to bear such a temperature as the 

 last mentioned ; the fact that they do so is sufficient to 

 prove that, under certain conditions, such a temperature 

 is not sufficient to destroy life. . , . Thus it appears that 

 there is no ground for the assumption that all living 

 matter is killed at some given temperature between 104" 

 and 208° Fahr." Again, " it is argued that a belief in 

 abiogenesis is a necessary corollary from the doctrine of 

 evolution. ... In the eyes of a consistent evolutionist 

 any further independent formation of protoplasm would 

 be sheer waste," 



Prof. Huxley gives his powerful and entire sanction to 

 the docrine of Ontogeny, explaining the facts that in many 

 forms there are gaps and irregularities in the order of 

 production of the organs, by assuming that the series of 

 developmental stages of the individual organism never 

 present more than an abbreviated and condensed sum- 

 mary of ancestral conditions. 



Mr. Dyer devotes himself to the " Limits and Classi- 

 fication of the Vegetable Kingdom," and concludes his 

 article with a synoptic view of the relations of plants, 

 which shows how much attention has recently been paid to 

 the lower forms. Schwendener's hypothesis is assumed, 

 and " Lichens must now be regarded as composite struc- 

 tures, partly consisting of an alga, partly of a fungus." 

 The Thallophyta are classified according to the method 

 of Sachs, and the Cryptogams according to Cohn, The 

 stepping-stones between these last and the Phanerogams 

 are excellently sketched,^ 



We think we have said enough to show the great im- 

 portance of the two articles which we have been attempting 

 to criticise. A. H, Garrod 



FOSSIL BUTTERFLIES 

 Fossil Butterflies. By Samuel H, Scudder. (Published 

 by the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, Salem, 1875.) 



TH E memoir now before us will be a boon, not only to 

 geologists, but to entomologists, inasmuch as it 

 reproduces in a small compass, as Mr. Scudder says, " all 

 that has been published of this group of fossils, whether 

 of text or illustration." 



After giving a complete list of all the works treating of 

 the subject, the author proceeds to characterise the genera 

 and species, beginning with Neorinopis sepulta, from Aix 

 in Provence, a fossil more discussed than any other 

 ancient Lepidopteron. He confirms Mr. Butler's determi- 

 nation of its affinities, but adds that, from a careful study 

 of the original, he has been enabled to correct an error as 

 regards the actual condition of the fossil, which he thus 

 describes : — 



" The thorax, hind legs, and both pair of wings of the 

 left side are preserved, almost completely ; all the rest is 

 lost. The thorax is viewed from above, and somewhat 

 on the left side ; the hind coxas seem to be almost torn 

 away from their immediate connection with the trunk. 

 The two hind legs are stretched out, bent at the femoro- 

 tibial articulation ; the left leg lies above both the wings, 



