510 



NATURE 



[March 28, 1901 



gazelles, is the one to which alone the term antelopes 

 should be applied if it were employed in a restricted and 

 definable sense. 



In their classification, the authors follow in the main 

 the divisions sketched out by Sir Victor, although they 

 have somewhat increased the number of sections, or sub- 

 families, into which this assemblage of ruminants is split 

 up. Into the limits of such sections it is quite unneces- 

 sary to enter upon the present occasion, as it is into any 

 details with regard to species. In the main the characters 

 of most of the species have been drawn from the mag- 

 nificent series of skins in the British Museum ; and 

 where this is the case no emendation on the diagnosis 

 given by the authors is ever likely to be required. In a 

 few instances, however, the Museum was possessed of 

 only very inadequate material at the date when the de- 

 scriptions were written, so that in these cases there is 

 room for revision. An instance in point is afforded by 

 the white-eared kob of the swamps of the Upper 

 Nile, complete specimens of which have recently been 

 presented to the Museum. By means of these it has 

 been ascertained for the first time that the old bucks 

 of this handsome species are deep black, at least during 

 the pairing season. 



Nomenclature, again, is a subject on which some 

 change of opinion has taken place among naturalists 

 during the period in which this work has been in pro- 

 gress. And it is probable that one at least of its authors 

 would not now be prepared to defend the use of all the 

 technical names therein employed. 



Although the authors have to deplore the vast decrease 

 that has taken place in the numbers of so many species 

 of African antelopes, in only one instance (that of the 

 blaauwbok) have they to lament complete extermination, 

 and that is not chargeable to the present, or even to the 

 last two or three generations. They record, however, that 

 several species in South Africa are only kept in existence 

 by special protection ; and in this connection it may be 

 observed that the effect of the present troubles in that 

 region on these dying species must be watched with the 

 utmost anxiety by all naturalists. 



As regards the manner in which the descriptions of 

 the various genera and species are drawn up, the reputa- 

 tion of the authors is a sufficient guarantee that this is, 

 in the main, beyond criticism. And no effort appears to 

 have been spared in order to acquire as much informa- 

 tion as possible with regard to geographical distribution. 

 As neither of the authors (except, perhaps, the junior in 

 his youthful days) is acquainted with the animals de- 

 scribed in their native wilds, recourse has been necessi- 

 tated to the writings of others ; and the authors may be 

 congratulated that in most instances they have had the 

 courage to give these borrowed accounts in their original 

 guise, instead of endeavouring to conceal their source by 

 paraphrasing. 



In one respect, and in one respect only, is there cause for 

 regret in connection with this undertaking, namely, that 

 the authors have not seen fit to refer, or at least in any 

 detail, to the comparatively little that is known in rela- 

 tion to the past history of the group of which they so 

 ably treat. The description and definition of species 

 (even if they be the chief points of interest to sportsmen) 

 are most important, but they are, and can be, only com- 

 NO. 1639, VOL. 63] 



paratively insignificant features in the philosophical study 

 of animal life and its meaning. One of the burning 

 questions of the day (in zoological circles) is the origin 

 of the Ethiopian fauna ; whether it is endemic in the 

 land from which it takes its name, or whether it is due 

 to an immigration from more northern climes. As re- 

 mains of species closely allied to the giraffes and ante- 

 lopes of modern Africa are met with in the later Tertiary 

 deposits of India, Persia and Greece, it is obvious that 

 the groups mentioned have much connection with the 

 solution of this important problem. It is, therefore, 

 greatly to be regretted that the authors have not seen 

 fit to give their own views on this point, so far as the 

 evidence to be derived from antelopes is concerned, or, 

 at all events, that they have not informed their readers 

 that several of the genera of these animals, now restricted 

 to Ethiopian Africa, formerly enjoyed a much more ex- 

 tensive geographical range. 



In the prospectus to the work it is stated that the 

 authors " are desirous of making the book interesting 

 and instructive to the naturalist, sportsman and general 

 reader." While maintaining throughout a high standard 

 of scientific excellence, and refraining from lowering their 

 style by the inclusion of so-called purely " sporting " 

 accounts, which are only too frequently most wearisome 

 and distasteful to the cultured reader, the authors may 

 be congratulated on having succeeded in their intentions 

 in a manner deserving of the heartiest commendation 

 on the part of all to whom this splendid and monumental 

 work appeals. R. L. 



THE SCIENCE OF ORE DEPOSITS. 



Lehre von den Erzlagersidtten. By Dr. Richard Beck, 

 ii Theil. Pp. ix-xviii 4- 385-724. (Berlin: Borntraeger, 

 1901). Mk. 8.50. 



WE are thankful to find that Dr. Beck has not kept 

 us waiting an unduly long time for the con- 

 cluding portion of his valuable work, the first instalment 

 of which was recently reviewed in these pages (see p. 2 45 

 January 10). The first part brought the description of 

 the different classes of mineral deposits nearly up to the 

 end of Fissure Veins ; this subject is now brought to a 

 conclusion with a number of general observations on this 

 important group of ore deposits, the only criticism upon 

 which need be that their limitations are somewhat too 

 narrowly drawn. Most of the phenomena here described, 

 such as the formation of gossans, enrichment or im- 

 poverishment of ores in depth, effects upon the sur- 

 rounding " country," &c., are by no means confined to 

 fissure veins, but are common to all classes of mineral 

 deposits, depending as they do' essentially upon the 

 chemical composition of the mineral contents of the 

 deposit, and either not at all or only in very remote 

 degree upon its genetic relations or morphological 

 features. The alterations and oscillations of mineral 

 constitution that many veins show in depth are well 

 but briefly described, although, perhaps, their close 

 connection in many cases with changes in the country 

 rock is hardly'enough insisted on. It is almost certain that 

 the well-known change in depth in the silver and copper 

 contents of the Montana copper deposits is purely a 



