}>ih!i\ ignijJi I'ral Xuticeji. r>i ) 1 



the enormous amount of orij^inal work now Wiw^ done in science, 

 it may soem a heresy to assert tliat the days of k^aniinf;; for k\irning*8 

 sake are over. 8ueh is nevertheU^ss the niehiucliuly fact, the result 

 of the modern strugu;lo fur existence and coin|>etitive examina- 

 tions. For the vast majority of mankind education lias become 

 simply a means to an end, which is bread-and-butter. Were it not 

 so we should be inclined to consider these schedules superfluous, 

 and to hold it far better for the student that he should be able to 

 tabulate his knowledjrc for himsilf. As it is, any labour-saving 

 appliance, anything wliich renders the passing of examinations 

 easier, is for the good of the student, and for the sake of the student 

 we welcome this book. 



The book consists of some two hundred and thirty pages, blank 

 leaves included, though not numbered. As they are intended to be 

 used, it would have been far better if they had been. The first ten 

 pages are devoted to the Protozoa. AVe then come to a genealogical 

 tree, intended to exhibit the probable phylogenetic connexion of the 

 various classes of the Metazoa. This shows most of the orders usually 

 included under the comprehensive title " Vennes," distributed along 

 the various branches; while in the centre we find the word "Vermes" 

 printed in large type and apparently springing from nowhere, though 

 the Chordata are shown as springing from it. The result is somewhat 

 confusing. On the next page we have a table likely to be of greater 

 value to the student, as it exhibits the chief typical differences in 

 the reproductive, blood-vascular, nervous, and other systems of the 

 Metazoan phyla. Another very useful table exhibits the chief facts 

 in the life-histories of the most important parasitic Trematodes and 

 Cestodes and other parasitic Worms. AVith the exception of the 

 last ten pages the rest of the book is devoted to classificatory 

 schedules, giving brief definitions of the phyla, classes, and orders, 

 illustrated with the names of and notes on the more interesting 

 and typical genera and species. We believe that the experience of 

 college tutors and others has shown that schedules such as these are 

 of much use to candidates for honours in natural science ; and these 

 schedules appear to us to be well done. Certain minor inaccuracies, 

 however, have caught our eye. For instance, since the nephridia of 

 Rotifera commence with flame-cells, it is wrong to speak of the 

 excretory tubes as " opening into an archicoelic body-cavity." 

 Again, the female gnat does not " sting ; " we might as well apply 

 the term to the cobra. Since the test of the Ascidian, one genus 

 excepted, is chiefly cellulose, it is not enough to define it as of a 

 " gelatinous or cartilaginous nature.'' In the Ileptilia-schedule, 

 besides stating that Hatteria has " biconcave vertebrae and no copu- 

 latory organs,"' mention might have been made of the ossification of 

 the quadrato-jugal cartilage, seeing that it is a feature found in no 

 other recent lizard. To speak of CoroneJla austriaca, the ilnglish 

 smooth snake, as the " smooth vij:>ei'" is misleading, to say the least 

 of it. The last ten pages of the book are devoted to some Xotes on 

 Distribution and a table showing the " Geological Eange of the 

 chief Animal Groups." In the latter ^fr. Davis has attempted to do 



