134 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



study of algebraic form that the modern de- 

 velopments of pure algebra, or its applica- 

 tions to geometry, can be rightly compre- 

 hended." 



From the Department of Agriculture we 

 have received Insects affecting Domestic A n~ 

 imals, an account of the species of impor- 

 tance in North America, by Herbert Osborne, 

 Professor of Zoology and Entomology, Iowa 

 Agricultural College. This report gives, in 

 about three hundred pages, a description of 

 all the parasites the stock raiser has to con- 

 tend with. After an introductory chapter on 

 parasites in general, the following six chap- 

 ters deal with the various pests in detail. 

 The seventh chapter tells of remedies and 

 preventive treatment. Classified lists and a 

 bibliography complete the pamphlet. The 

 report represents the result of investigations 

 carried on at intervals since 1885. In the 

 words of L. 0. Howard, entomologist to the 

 department, it " will form an excellent text- 

 book of the subject, and is a work which 

 should be in the bands of all stock raisers." 

 It is fully illustrated by plates and cuts. 



Observations on the Fur Seals of the Pri~ 

 biloff Islands Preliminary Report by David 

 Starr Jordan, Commissioner in charge of 

 Fur-seal Investigations for 1896 brings 

 some interresting data as to the condition 

 and the fishery of seals on a little cluster of 

 islands in the Bering Sea. Under different 

 headings it describes the islands, the rooker- 

 ie?, habits and breeding of the seal, and the 

 different modes of killing, and their effects. 

 A number of statistical tables put these dif- 

 ficult investigations on a scientifically accu- 

 rate basis ; and a map appended to the pam- 

 phlet locates the routes of the seal under 

 way. 



The February number of the Expositor, 

 a theological magazine, opens with a rather 

 searching criticism of Ian Maclaren's The 

 Mind of the Master, by the Lord Bishop of 

 Derry and Raphoe. He points out what to 

 him seem numerous errors of interpretation 

 of the Gospels ; and from his Anglican 

 point of view the Rev. John Watson's broad 

 if not exactly new proposition that of sub- 

 stituting the Sermon on the Mount for the 

 creeds of Christendom would mean a giv- 

 ing over of Christianity altogether. Among 

 the other papers of interest to lay readers 



may be mentioned Christian Perfection, by 

 the Rev. Joseph Agar Beet ; John's View of 

 the Sabbath Rest, by the Rev. George Mathe- 

 son ; and The Priest of Penitence, by the 

 Rev. E. N. Bennett. Among the reviews a 

 large space is given to books on social topics. 

 Two of these reviews are by Prof. Richard 

 T. Ely, and one by Prof. William Adams 

 Brown. 



The Analytic Keys to the Genera and 

 Species of North American Mosses, prepared 

 by Charles R. Barnes, and published by the 

 University of Wisconsin, is a new edition 

 and enlargement of a Key to Genera pub- 

 lished for free distribution in 1886, and Keys 

 to Species published in 1890, and is intend- 

 ed to serve the same purpose as they of 

 furnishing a convenience to students rather 

 than to present a critical study of North 

 American mosses. It includes, therefore, a 

 very large number of new species that have 

 been described since 1890. For the benefit 

 of amateurs, though specialists may not 

 need them, collected descriptions are ap- 

 pended of all species not found in Lesque- 

 reux and James's Manual. The attempt is 

 made to include all the species reported or 

 described as belonging to our flora, unless 

 later study of the genus has shown the addi- 

 tion to be untenable ; and such special stud- 

 ies are cited in the Keys. Pains have been 

 taken to include as many of the barren and 

 insufficiently described species as possible, 

 in order that they may be recognized, if 

 they exist, or may be referred to their proper 

 place. Varieties are not discriminated, but 

 inquiry into the subject is suggested. The 

 work of preparing this edition has been 

 largely done by Mr. de F. Heald, with the 

 co-operation of the author. 



Prof. G. Frederick Wright's comprehen- 

 sive and fully illustrated account of The Ice 

 Age in North America, which first appeared 

 in 1889, reached its fourth edition in 1896 

 (Appletons, $5). Detailed work upon the 

 glaciated areas has been going on actively 

 since the third edition came out, but Dr. 

 Wright finds no occasion to modify mate- 

 rially his original statements, either of fact 

 or of theory. In his preface to the new 

 issue he gives a list of papers in which the 

 results of this recent work have been em- 

 bodied, accompanying it with notes on the 



