54 



KNOWLEDGE 



[January 1, 1890. 



much difficulty in picking up double, red, and variable 

 stars, nebuliG, &c. not visible to the naked eye, owing to 

 the absence of reliable maps by means of which most of 

 them could be readily identified. In the present charts, 

 which meet this long-felt want, nine-tenths of W. Struve's 

 double stars, with a selection from the catalogues of his 

 son and Mr. Burnham, most of the red stars in Mr. liir- 

 mingham's catalogue, nearly all the known variables, and 

 a \ery large number of nebula and clusters from the cata- 

 logues of Sir William and Sir .John Hersoliel are inserted 

 for the epoch 1890, every star visible to the naked eye in 

 the portion of the heavens charted being also given. We 

 think, however, that, in the case of naked-eye pairs, 

 Struve's, (). Struve's, or Burnham's numbers should have 

 been attached, when the pairs in question were not too 

 close or unequal to have been visible in instruments of 

 moderate dimensions ; or at least that some indication of 

 their being double should have been given — as is the case 

 in Proctor's maps, as w^ell as the excellent atlas (too little 

 known to Englishmen), the Tdlmhe Ctflcstcn of Schurig. 

 The scale is very large, one-third of an inch to a degree of 

 a great circle ; and the charts being printed on drawing 

 paper, any new objects can be easily inserted. One dis- 

 tinctive feature of the map is that every constellation — 

 with the single exception of the unmanageable Hydra — is 

 shown complete on a single chart. The charts number in 

 all 8(>, in which the 57 constellations shown are included. 

 Something of the kind was attempted in England many 

 years ago, but, if we remember rightly, only the constella- 

 tions of Orion and Lepus were issued, and the scheme 

 eventually fell through. Mr. Cottam very wisely, con- 

 sidering the astonishing discrepancies between the draw- 

 ings hitherto published, refi'ains from gi^■ing any delinea- 

 tion of the Milky Way. We are glad to hear that it is his 

 intention to bring out a similar series of charts of the 

 Southern Heavens, and we may then hope to see a large 

 increase in the number of observers at the Antipodes. 



Till' Sdutlicni Skim. By the late R. A. Proctor. (W. 

 H. Allen & Co., London.) This is an atlas nearly uniform 

 with Mr. Proctor's "Half-hours with the Stars," a guide 

 to the Northern Heavens, which has gone through several 

 editions. It contains twelve circular maps, each showing 

 the principal constellations above the Horizon for dift'erent 

 periods of the year. Mr. Proctor, who had a special gift 

 for map drawing, had nearly completed tliis little atlas at 

 the time of his death. An observer, lying on his back in 

 Latitude 38 South, would see the stars at the centre of the 

 maps directly over his head at the hours and dates men- 

 tioned, and the different constellations visible in their 

 several places relatively to the horizon. Mr. Proctor 

 points out that the atlas can be made use of for other lati- 

 tudes than 38° S. by means of a piece of paper cut accord- 

 ing to a diagram he gives, so as to cover up a portion of 

 the map and show the stars along the southern horizon. 

 The maps form an excellent introduction to the Southern 

 constellations. An observer who wishes to explore the 

 southern heavens will, after ha\'ing made himself familiar 

 with the principal stars by means of these maps, have no 

 difficulty in finding smaller stars and nebube, by means of 

 star catalogues and the larger star maps. 



'I'lic Aniititmij (if tlie Froi/. By A. Ecker, translated, 

 with annotations and additions, by G. Hasl.vm. Bvo. 

 (Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1880.) Pp. 1-449. Illustra- 

 tions. The handsome volume before us is the second of a 

 series in course of publication by the Clarendon Press, 

 issued under the title of " Translations of Foreign Bio- 

 logical Memoirs." The letter-press and illustrations are 

 excellent. We would especially call attention to the 

 splendid execution of the two coloured plates illustrating 



the vascular anatomy of the Frog. The work is called a 

 translation of lacker's monograph, of which the first part 

 appeared in 1864, and the second in 1882 ; but it is really 

 a great deal more than this. Thus, the translator states 

 that he has added extensively to the text, and also to 

 the number of tlie illustrations ; while the chapter on the 

 Central Nervous System is entirely re-written, and the one 

 following is re-arranged. The Frog is an animal of wide 

 interest, as belonging to that class in which alone we find 

 actual living examples of evolution ; these creatures com- 

 mencing life m a stage whicli is, to all intents and purposes, 

 on the platform of the Fishes, while in their perfect state 

 they are but little removed from true Reptiles. The Frog, 

 as our author remarks, has also an adventitious interest, as 

 being the unfortunate animal selected for the doubtful 

 honour of so many physiological experiments ; and it is, 

 therefore, of great importance that its detailed anatomy 

 should be fully and accurately known. The introductory 

 chapter treats of the external contour of Frogs, as exempli- 

 fied by the Edible Frog and the Common Frog (lliiiui 

 tciiijKinirin). It is noticed that two species have been con- 

 founded under the latter name ; the second one being 

 termed B. o.i-yrhinuK, although, according to Mr. Boulen- 

 ger's British Museum catalogue, its right name is 7i'. 

 rirralis. In the first section of the work we have an 

 elaborate description, with some excellent figures, of the 

 bones of the skeleton. It is worthy of notice that the 

 author terms the bony bar of the shoulder-girdle situated 

 in advance of the coracoid the "clavicle," instead of the 

 precoracoid. In this respect he follows Prof. Wiedersheim. 

 Now, the latter writer identifies this so-called clavicle 

 with the bone generally termed precoracoid in the 

 Chelonia, which he likewise identifies wdth the clavicle. 

 If, however, the ejjiplastrals of the Chelonian plastron are 

 rightly regarded as the clavicles, it is quite clear that the 

 deeper-seated pair of bones cannot also be clavicles ; and 

 since the latter bones are almost certainly the same as the 

 so-called clavicles of the Frog, it seems to us that these 

 two bones should be regarded both in the Chelonia and the 

 Frog, as the precoracoids. We axay direct attention to the 

 curious sexual difference in the humerus of the Frog, so 

 well shown in the illustration on page 41 — a difference 

 which is still more strongly marked in the South American 

 genus, Li'ptoilnctijhui. In calling the conjoint bones of the 

 fore-arm " radio-ulnar " (p. 43), the translator evidently 

 should have written radio-ulna, as he speaks of tibio- 

 fibula on page 47. The following seven sections are 

 devoted to the description and illustration of the soft 

 parts, into the details of which we are prevented l)y 

 want of space from entering. That this work is worthy 

 to take rank with Straus-Durckheim's AHatomij of the Cut, 

 and Prof. Mivart's later treatise on the same subject, 

 we have no hesitation in saying. We regret, however, to 

 find that no mention whatever is made of the Tadpole, and 

 of the wonderful metamorphosis of the latter into the 

 perfect Frog ; and we think that the translator might well 

 have added a chapter on this subject, and have shown us 

 how the organisation of the larva is gradually modified into 

 that of the adult. We may, however, venture to hope that 

 this omission will be remedied in a future edition. 



Index of liritixh Plants, according to the London Cata- 

 logue (Eighth Edition). By R. Turnbull. London. 

 1889. Pp. 1-98. 8vo. The popularity of this little 

 work is sufficiently e^•idenced by its having reached its 

 eighth edition. Such a guide will be found of considerable 

 assistance to amateur botanists, in wading through the 

 complex nomenclature with which this branch of natural 

 science is weighted. Full reference to descriptions and 

 figures are given, which, if accurate, must be of great 



