January 12, 1893] 



JVA TURE 



2^1 



these restorations. As an example of how a restoration 

 should not be made, we may instance the figure of Stego- 

 saun/s ungulatus (p. 104), in which the management of 

 the limbs is out of harmony with the evidences of the 

 muscular structure of the tail, and the supra-vertebral 

 crest. The restoration of the Scelidosaurus from the 

 Lias of England is unsatisfactory. There is no better 

 ground for giving a kangaroo-like position to that animal 

 than there would be for drawing Teleosaurus in the same 

 position. The mobility of the neck as drawn is aston- 

 ishing. 



The restorations of mammals are happier. The sub- 

 jects diverge less from existing types. And probably the 

 most successful in the volume is the spirited restoration 

 of Sivatheriufn giganteum from the Sivalic Hills, though 

 the-Glyptodon and Irish Deer are meritorious. 

 ?In the text the author is generally content with telling 

 the story of the history of science ; but he sometimes 



British Museum (Natural History), handed on to the 

 I unlearned as representing the best available classifica- 

 tion. On page 75, the author introduces a restored 

 skeleton of Megalosaurus, which is attributed to Prof. 

 I Marsh. The skeleton certainly is not referable to Mega- 

 I losaurus, which never has the pubic bones or the ilium 

 ' constructed as in the figure. The restoration has been 

 previously used in Nicholson and Lydekker's " Palaeon- 

 tology," and in Dr. Woodward's " Handbook to the 

 Geological Department of the British Museum,"but we do- 

 not remember any published authorization for the use of 

 Prof. Marsh's name as authority for confounding Megalo- 

 saurus with the allied American type. 

 Another example of the same kind of interpretation 

 ' occurs in dealing with Stegosaurus. It is said to have 

 been proved that bones to which the name Omosaurus- 

 has been applied really belong to Stegosaurus, and that 

 an unnecessary name has been disposed of. The ground 



['he four-homed extinct Mammal Sivatheriutn gigantc 



The animal on the left is Heladotheriuni. 



Strays into less safe matter. Thus an account is given of I 

 the eye of the Ichthyosaurus. And it is urged that the | 

 bony plates exercised a pressure on the eyeball, so as to j 

 make the eye more convex, and improve the definition of | 

 near objects. The study of sclerotic defences does not | 

 support this interpretation ; and in at least one generic i 

 division of the Ichthyosauria the sclerotic plates do not ; 

 overlap at all, but join each other by their lateral sutural 

 margins. 



It is perhaps unfortunate that the author gives cur- : 

 rency to nomenclature and classification of the terrestrial | 

 types of saurians which may not always prevail. If the 

 genera with a bird-like type of pelvis are terrestrial repre- , 

 sentatives of birds, and the genera with a reptilian | 

 type of pelvis are terrestrial wingless representa- ; 

 tives of Pterodactyls, then it may not be an advan- 

 tage to have the Dinosaurs treated as a homogeneous 

 group, or the divisions adopted by Prof. Marsh, or in the 

 NO. 12 1 I, VOL. 47] 



on which this determination is made, not being stated! 

 need not concern us now ; but it is undesirable that a 

 popular work, whose main merit is that it does not pre- 

 tend to teach the facts of science, should appear to enun- 

 ciate judgments on scientific problems. Having de- 

 scribed the immense enlargement of the spinal cord in 

 the sacral region of Stegosaurus, the author remarks: — 

 " So this anomalous monster had two sets of brains — one 

 in its skull, and the other in the region of its haunches ! — 

 and the latter in directing the movements of the huge 

 hind limbs and tail did a large part of the work." Re- 

 marks of this character are sure to be misunderstood, 

 are out of place and incorrect. 



The author has read much, and shown an excellent 

 capacity for quotation, but has not always succeeded in- 

 using the newest results. He has conscientiously 

 endeavoured to tell the story which is contained in his- 

 quotations, but beyond this he does not pretend, except 



