April 2% 1910] 



NATURE 



21 



.atomy who wants to learn how the organs of man's 



>dy have come to assume their form and structure, 

 but also to the zoologist, who will find in this book 

 -^ concise statement of the light thrown upon the 



ructure of vertebrates in general by the detailed 

 study of the anatomy and development of one 

 mamma!. 



The scope of the work is so wide that the reader 

 cannot expect to find accuracy in every detail, or a 

 freedom from time-worn and conventional errors; but, 

 in his prefrce, " the writer craves the indulgence of 

 those who have directed their special attention to any 

 one of the subjects touched upon," and the impartial 

 reviewer is bound to admit that the merits of the broad 

 view of animal structure given in this book far out- 

 weigh its defects, which, on the whole, concern 

 matters of detail only. 



But when it is noted that in the second chapter 

 Prof. Wilder properly insists that " the one line of 

 development by which the Primates have become 

 differentiated is in that of their central ner\'ous 

 system, and especially that of the cerebrum " (p. 41), 

 the reader has a right to expect something more than 

 the rather perfunctory account of this svstem, the 

 influence of which has been paramount in making 

 man what he is. Nor is it too much to expect that a 

 zoologist, even if he has not "directed his special 

 attention " to the question of the distribution of 

 animals, should know that the monotremes do not 

 ••occur in New Zealand" (p. 33), and that Galeo- 

 pithecus is not " found in Madagascar " (p. 37) ! 



In the final chapter a concise and impartial account 

 is given of (a) the Annelid, (6) the Xemertean, (c) 

 Gaskell's (though the name of its author li, not men- 

 tioned), and (d) the Protochordate theories of the origin 

 of vertebrates; and the author ends his interesting 

 handbook with the quotation from Korschelt and 

 Heider :— " The origin of vertebrates is lost in the 

 obscurity of forms unknown to us. G. E. S. 



ViAFS OF THE THAMES BASIX. 



The Basin of the Thames. (Lettered and Unlettered.) 

 (Edinburgh: \V. and A. K. Johnston, Ltd., n.d.) 

 Price 125. each. 



'T'HIS publication consists of two maps, with and 



-•- without names. The map containing names is 



well designed and should be of great value for schools. 



Contours are shown at 800, 600, 400, 300, 200, and 

 feet, and the areas of equal elevation are distin- 

 guished by shades of brown. The rivers are printed 

 in blue, and stand out distinctly from the light brown 

 tints. The names have been carefully selected, only 

 initial letters being shown for towns, while physical 

 names have been printed in a clear but subordinate 

 type. These have followed the lines suggested in a 

 recent map prepared by the Royal Geographical 

 Societv. 



Local names, such as the New Forest, the Chilterns, 

 the North and South Downs, have been necessarily 

 retained, but to these have been added other names, 

 not so generally well known, but descriptive of phy- 

 sical features. Such are the " Forest Ridges " of 

 NO. 21 12, VOL. 83] 



Sussex, Battle Ridge, the Western Downs, the Plain 

 of Selsey, &c. It is to be hoped that these names, 

 which are now generally accepted as being most suit- 

 able, will be used in all future maps, as a reasonable 

 uniformity of nomenclature will avoid much confusion 

 in teaching. 



Railways, British and Roman reads, and the sites 

 of Roman towns are shown in red. A most instruc- 

 tive lesson will be possible by the use of this map on 

 the difTerence between ancient and modern lines of 

 communication, and the sites chosen for Roman and 

 modern towns. The map shows clearly that the 

 Roman roads largely followed ridges and avoided 

 river valleys, or, at any rate, kept along the edge of 

 high ground. The Fosse Way, on the eastern margin 

 of the Cotteswold Hills, and the Icknield Way, on the 

 northern slope of the Chilterns, are excellent examples. 

 Most of the Roman towns were situated on higher 

 ground, away from the forests of the valleys, and in 

 positions suited for defence. 



The companion map, with no names except initial 

 letters of towns, is disappointing. It was probably 

 essential, for reasons of expense, to keep the representa- 

 tion the same as on the named map, but we feel that it 

 might have been made much more effective if all the 

 contours had been shown from 100 feet to 800 feet, and 

 if the areas they enclose had been marked by clearly 

 defined brown lines. The omission of the 500 feet and 

 700 feet contour lines means that steep escarpments, 

 such as the southern front of the North Downs, fail to 

 stand out clearly ; and the higher vallevs. such as those 

 of the Chilterns, are only distinguishable by a close ex- 

 amination of the map. For a map intended for phy- 

 sical teaching the shapes of hill regions are of the 

 first importance, and these need presentation in suffi- 

 cient detail to give some clue, in connection, of 

 course, with geological maps, to their formation. 



It is to be regretted that no county divisions have 

 been placed on the named map. A dotted line, suffi- 

 cient for reference, would not have spoilt the 

 clearness of the representation and would have been 

 welcome to many teachers. 



County boundaries, as studied from political maps, 

 have certainly played too important a part in past 

 teaching, but the regions which they define can- 

 not be ignored in any systematic study of the regional 

 geography of England or in that of local geography. 



EARLY VIEWS OX INSECT LIFE. 



Experiments on the Generation of Insects. By Fran- 

 cesco Redi, of Arezzo. Translated from the Italian 

 Edition of 1688 by Mab Bigelow. Pp. 160. 

 Portrait, facsimile of original title-page (1768), and 

 29 plates, besides illustrations in the text. 

 (Chicago : Open Court Publishing Co. ; London : 

 Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 2 dollars. 



IN the early days of modern science much pioneer 

 work had to be done in clearing away all manner 

 of crude notions and legends, partly based on ideas and 

 faulty explanations of facts or fables handed down 

 from classical times, and partly on popular notions of 

 later date. More than any writer of his period, Redi, 



