NA TURE 



[May 5. 1892 



In the preface of the present part, the origin of the 

 series to which it belongs is thus related : — 



"The need for new and revised descriptive works had, 

 for some years before 1 88 1, been felt and discussed amongst 

 naturalists in India, but the attention of the Government 

 was, I believe,first called to the matter bya memorial dated 

 September 1 5 of that year, prepared by Mr. P. L. Sclater, 

 the well-known Secretary of the Zoological Society, signed 

 by Mr. Charles Darwin, Sir J. Hooker, Prof. Huxley, 

 Sir J. Lubbock, Prof. W. H. Flower, and by Mr. Sclater 

 himself, and presented to the Secretary of State for India. 

 This memorial recommended the preparation of a series 

 of hand-books of Indian zoology, and my appointment as 

 editor. It is scarcely necessary to add that to the re- 

 commendation of men so highly respected and well known 

 in the world of science, the publication of the present 

 'Fauna of British India' is greatly due. and that Mr. 

 Sclater is entitled to the thanks of all interested in the 

 zoology of India for the important part he took in the 

 transaction." 



We are also glad to learn from the same source that 

 the series of works on the fauna of British India will not 

 be confined to the Vertebrata, the preparation of three 

 volumes on Moths by Mr. G. F. Hampson having been 

 commenced. We trust that these will be followed by 

 others dealing with those groups of which sufficient 

 material is available, and for which authors may be forth- 

 coming capable of treating them in a manner worthy to 

 be placed by the side of those already issued. 



The second part of the Mammalia contains the orders 

 Chiroptera, Rodentia, Ungulata, Cetacea, Sirenia, and 

 Edentata. It is fully equal to its predecessor in careful 

 selection of the material which is most likely to be useful 

 and attractive to those readers for whom the work is 

 chiefly intended. The descriptions, geographical distri- 

 bution, and accounts of the habits of the various species 

 can be thoroughly relied upon. Nomenclature is always 

 a thorny subject in zoology, and though Mr. Blanford 

 is usually most careful and judicious in his work in this 

 department, we cannot agree with him in substituting 

 the specific name of maximus for the time-honoured and 

 universally used Elephas indicus. The inconvenience of 

 changing the name by which such a familiar animal is 

 designated in thousands of books and museums, is so 

 great that it can only be justified by some more imperious 

 necessity than appears to exist in the present case. That 

 maximus was applied by Linnaeus to both the then known 

 species, and that it is incorrect and misleading (the other 

 existing, and many of the extinct, species being as large as, 

 or larger than, the Indian elephant) are sufficient reasons, 

 in our judgment, for leaving the name in the oblivion in 

 which it has slept for nearly a century. Moreover, if 

 indicus be rejected, the claims of Blumenbach's asiaticus 

 cannot be overlooked. 



The illustrations of the present part are far superior to 

 those of the former one, and show a marked advance in 

 the art of process-printing directly from the artists' draw- 

 ings, without the intervention of the wood-cutter. Many 

 of those by Mr. P. Smit, though printed from blocks in 

 the text, have all the softness and delicacy of the finest 

 specimens of lithography, and add greatly to the attrac- 

 tiveness of this valuable work. 



W. H. F. S 

 NO. 1175, VOL. 46] 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Tanganyika: Eleven Years in Central Africa. B)' 

 Edward Coode Hore, Master Mariner. (London : 

 Edward Stanford, 1892.) 

 Mr. Hore was for eleven years a member of the Central 

 African Mission established at Lake Tanganyika by the 

 London Missionary Society, his special task being to 

 undertake all the work that could be most effectually 

 accomplished by one who had the knowledge and experi- 

 ence of a master mariner. In the present book he gives 

 an account of his labours. The narrative contains many 

 elements of interest, and will be read with pleasure by 

 all who like to think of devoted courage in the service of 

 great moral ideas, Mr. Hore became very familiar with 

 Lake Tanganyika, which he surveyed in the first instance 

 on board a native boat. Afterwards the British supporters 

 of the mission enabled him to build two vessels in which 

 he had opportunities of doing his work in a style worthy 

 of its magnitude and importance. Of the physical 

 characteristics of the lake and the surrounding regions he 

 gives an unpretending but sound and sometimes pic- 

 turesque account. He has also much to say about the 

 natives, whose confidence and good-will he seems to have 

 had a rare power of winning. He has a very favourable 

 opinion of their capacities, and knows of no good reason 

 why they should ever be treated by Europeans otherwise 

 than with kindness and patience. 



Beginner's Guide to Photography. By a Fellow of the 

 Chemical Society. (London : Perken, Son, and Ray- 

 ment, 1892.) 



This very cheap and useful little guide has now reached 

 its fourth edition. The reader is led through all the phases 

 of manipulation that at first sight seem so bewildering, but 

 which with clear explanations are soon rendered more 

 simple and eventually mastered. All questions relating 

 to " How to buy a Camera, and how to use it," may be 

 said to be here fully answered, and by following the 

 instructions an amateur may be saved from much dis- 

 appointment and expense. The explanations throughout 

 the book are both clear and explicit, and the omission of 

 such technicalities as might confuse rather than enlighten 

 a reader will be found distinctly advantageous. 



Quain^s Elements of Anatomy. Edited by E. A, Schafer, 

 F.R.S., and G. D. Thane. In Three Vols. Vol. II., 

 Part 2. By Prof. Thane. Tenth Edition. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892.) 



It is necessary here only to record the fact that the 

 publishers have issued the second part of the second 

 volume of this magnificent edition of Quain's standard 

 work. The editor is Prof. Thane, and the subjects 

 dealt with are arthrology, myology, and angeiology. 

 There are no fewer than 255 illustrations, many of which 

 are coloured. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



\7 he Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Natu re. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



iThe Zebra's Stripes. 

 Almost every writer who treats of the colours of animals 

 refers to Gallon's observations that in the bright starlight of an 

 African night zebras are practically invisible even at a .^hort 

 distance ; but there can be no doubt that their peculiar striped 

 appearance is also of great protective value in broad daylight. On 

 a recent zebra hunt near Cradock, in which I took part, several 

 members of our party commented on the difificulties of seeing 



