NA TURE 



485 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1878 



THE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD 

 The Zoological Record for iZ^d _; being Volume Thirteenth 

 of the Record of Zoological Literature. Edited by 

 Edward Caldwell Rye, F.Z.S., &c. (London : 1878.) 



ANOTHER volume of this useful annual is now 

 before us. When, about a twelvemonth since, we 

 noticed (Nature, vol. xvi. p. 357) its predecessor, we 

 took occasion to complain of the ingratitude of zoologists 

 in not giving more efficient support to a work which, if 

 not indispensable to the due prosecution of their studies, 

 would at least lighten their labours in a remarkable 

 degree, and we pointed out how it was a matter of obli- 

 gation upon all literary and scientific institutions to 

 include the Zoological Record among the books they 

 regularly purchase. We fear that our words fell upon 

 dull ears, and that there is as much need now as there 

 was then to impress these considerations on the public. 

 The Zoological Record Association, to judge from its 

 recent balance-sheet, still lives upon charity, to the great 

 discredit of the zoologists of our own tongue as a body, 

 and if its existence be prematurely brought to a close, it 

 will be to their everlasting disgrace. In some respects 

 the energy of zoologists is boundless, in other respects 

 their apathy is amazing. They will compass sea and 

 land to gain one new specimen for their collections, or 

 one apparently new species for their monographs. They 

 think themselves happy in the short-lived glory of being 

 able to inscribe "A'ij^^w" or "/« Mtis. nostr." after its 

 name in some printed list ; but they care very little to 

 know what others are doing in the same line of research, 

 and when a few years after, some industrious German or 

 Scandinavian naturalist quietly relegates the name on 

 which they had plumed themselves to the limbo of 

 synonyms (perhaps with a mark of admiration which does 

 not mean praise), they accept the rebuff and console 

 themselves with the reflection that "a fellow can't be 

 expected to know everything," or, if twitted by a friend, 

 will ask in an aggrieved tone whether it is possible for 

 anybody to be acquainted with the contents of two 

 hundred foreign journals. Then, again, there is the 

 obstacle caused by dislike to, or suspicion of, any new 

 thing, from which even scientific men are not entirely 

 exempt. The conchological investigations' of Mr. A. or 

 the entomological studies of Dr. B., some thirty or forty 

 years ago, conferred imperishable renown upon the 

 ancient borough of Little Pedlington, in which they were 

 both resident. Their investigations and their studies 

 were accomplished without the aid of the Zoological 

 Record. Therefore the Zoological Record is of no use to 

 persons engaged in such labours, and therefore the Little 

 Pedlington Literary and Scientific Institute need not go 

 to the expense of adding the yearly volumes of the Zoolo- 

 gical Record to its bookshelves. Perhaps some of our 

 readers may smile, but we believe this to be no uncom- 

 mon case, and though the sight of a just man struggling 

 with adversity is said to have been pleasant to the gods 

 of old times, we cannot say that the condition of the 

 Zoological Record Association awakens similar feelings in 

 ourselves. 



Vol. xviii. — No. 462 "■ 



Now as to the present volume. With the same contri- 

 butors as the last, it has naturally almost the same 

 qualities ; but the editor has introduced a new feature in 

 the separate pagination of many of the records. This 

 scheme has been tried, he tells us, in the hope of saving 

 time, but the very insignificant amount of delay which it 

 seems to have avoided, appears to us but a poor and 

 utterly inadequate recompense for the additional trouble 

 there always is in citing a book so paged, and the amount 

 of confusion to which this manifold system invariably 

 gives rise. Here we have page i fifteen times over, and 

 yet one set of numbers runs to 240 pages ! We certainly 

 trust the editor will reconsider his determination of con- 

 tinuing this practice, though he holds out hope of its 

 "possibly leading to other improvements." Otherwise 

 we have not a word to say against Mr. Rye's manage- 

 ment, which, as before, proclaims his great ability. We 

 venture, however, to throw out a suggestion that perhaps . 

 may not be included among his possible improvements. 

 This is that general works should receive a separate 

 notice in addition to that Avhich each individual recorder 

 thinks fit to give them. -The year 1876 will long be 

 remarkable as that in which Mr. Wallace' s great work on 

 the " Geographical Distribution of Animals," appeared ; 

 but we must say that the attention it receives in this 

 volume of the Zoological Record is utterly unworthy of the 

 magnitude of the subject. Our readers shall judge for 

 themselves. The recorder for Mammalia, Mr. Alston, 

 after most properly naming it especially in his preliminary 

 remarks, says of it : — 



" A considerable part of this most important work is 

 devoted to the Mammalia. Besides the discussion of the 

 genera characteristic of each of the zoological regions 

 and sub-regions, the classification of Mammals is con- 

 sidered (i. pp. 85-90), the distribution of the extinct forms 

 (i. pp. 107-160), and that of existing families and genera 

 (ii. pp. 170-254). The author believes that the principal 

 groups first appeared in the northern hemisphere, from 

 which the southern continents were peopled by successive 

 waves of migration." 



The recorder for Aves, Mr. Salvin, writes : — -- 



" The class Aves supplies a large proportion of the 

 material investigated in this work, and the distribution 

 of birds entering into the subjects is examined under the 

 the following heads : — (Pcirt i. ) The principles and gene- 

 ral phenomena of animals. (Part ii.) On the distribution 

 of extinct animals. (Part iii.) Zoological Geography: 

 a review of the chief forms of life in the several regions 

 and sub-regions, with the indications they afford of geo- 

 graphical mutations. (Part iv.) Geographical Zoology, 

 a systematic sketch of the chief families of land animals 

 in their geographical relations. The book itself is fuU 

 of details most carefully elaborated, and is doubtless 

 destined to be the standard work on the subject for some 

 time to come." 



The recorder for Reptilia, Mr. O'Shaughnessy, de- 

 scants at greater length : — 



"The geographical distribution of the families and 

 genera of Reptiles and Amphibians is treated collectively 

 as a section, in chap. xix. of this work, vol. ii. pp. 392- 

 423. 



" In discussing the means of Dispersal and Migration 

 of the various classes of animals, Mr. Wallace remarks 

 (vol. i. p. 29) that Reptiles, exclusive of serpents and sea- 

 snakes, being scarcely more fitted than Mammals for 

 traversing seas and oceans, are generally wanting in 



u 



