November. 



1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



255 



iilst'uce of the otherwise cosiiU)iiolit;iii sclii/.i)iM>ds from West 

 Indian watere, so exceptional a ciroimistance ealled at least for 

 some remark. As mutters stand, the unwary nader is invited 

 to tind among the Squillidie a set of eliaracters. with half of wliieh 

 thev have absolutely no eoneern. For a book whieh is nothing 

 if not instructive, it nmsl be said that the synonymy is plotted 

 cut in an exasiHrating manner, as though the object were to 

 cover as much space with as little information as possible. 

 .Against the technical names the names of authors are given, but 

 without dates, and often in a random. lU' at least unintelligible 

 Older, and without any indication of the work in which this or 

 that author lirst deliiied this or that genus and species, or for, 

 anv reason changed its original appcllaliim. This method, or no 

 method, may best be illustrated by an example, not selected, but 

 taken from" a casual opening of the volume. On page 94 we 

 lead: — •' J/i7//ra.r (ilithrax) .tculplus. 



" ilithrax sculptux . . A. Milne Edwards, Gibbcs. 



■' 3Iithra.r miriuttis . ■ Sanssnre, Uesbonue and 



Schramm. 

 •• Maia sculpta . I.amarck. 



" Mithraculus coronatus . White. 

 '■ Mithraculus seulpius .Stimpson." • 



A plain man would naturally infvr from this that Alphonsc .\lilne 

 Kdwards used the name Mil/. rax snilplus before it was adopted 

 by liibbes, and that Lamarck wrote at a . later period than 

 iiuissure. It would be unfortunate for a plain man to back bis 

 inference by any large stake. I-amarck is the earliest author of 

 all those mentioned in this list, (iibbes was anterior to Alphonse 

 Milne Edwards. It was not Alphonse. but his father Henri who 

 preectlcd Gibbes in calling the species Mithrax scitlplvs. 

 Alphonse called it Mithraculus scilplus in agreement with 

 Stimpson. Under the next species the synonymy gives ^'Mithra- 

 culus einctimanus. A. Milne Kdwards, Stimpson," though it 

 was instituted by Stimpson in 1860. and not recorded by A. ililne 

 Kdwards till 1875. All this dotail has been long ago worked out 

 with care and minuteness, and st<i.nds recorded plain for all folk 

 to .see in the easily accessible " Proceedings of the U.S. Natiimal 

 Museum" for 18§2. It umst rank among the curiosities of 

 literature that anyone should attempt a compilation having for 

 its subject American Crustacea, and yet ignore or be ignorant 

 of a whole series of writings by approved American authors on 

 this very subject. The existence of Stimpson. as wo have seen, 

 is recognised. Acknowledgment.s are made to Miss Rathbun. 

 Some of their writings are cited in the introductory list of 

 literature. Others of equal iinport;ince are left unnoticed. Hut 

 among those included in the li.st will be found Stimp.son's " Notes 

 on Xorth American Cnistacea." I'a'rts 1. and II. These are not 

 voluminous contributions. Nevertheless, Actrra erosa from the 

 coral reefs of Florida, Clibanarius antilhnsis from Harbados, and 

 several other species therein described by Stimpson, are entirely 

 |)assed over by Dr. Young, though proper to the region with 

 which his book is concerned. That Uhlias limbatus, from 

 St. Thomas and other genera and species, instituted in the third 

 l)art of the same series of notes, have sutl'ered the same neglect. 

 IS perhaps most ea.sily accounted for by the theory that Dr. Young 

 never happened to have seen or heard of this third part. It 

 would be tedious here to demonstr.ite the theory, but a student 

 with patience to comjmre the two woi'ks in ([Uestion is liktily to 

 become a believer in it. A similar theory will apply to the 

 monographic jiaper on the genus Panopcus, by Benedict and 

 Rathbun in 1891, to that on the I'ericcrida' by" M. .J. Kathlmn 

 in 1892. to the. same writer's "Revision of the N'onienclature of 

 the Brachyura " in 1897, as well as to Bigelow's " Stoniatopoda 

 of the ■ -Albatross ' " in 1894. No writer could have willingly 

 neglected the invaluable assistance of such contributions. The 

 wonder is that any writer undiTtakiiig such a task as Dr. '^'oung's 

 could have escaped acquaintance «ith them. However, the sun 

 still shines brightly when the s|]ols on its face are dark and 

 numerous, and no doubt the book under review, amidst its 

 imiK-rfections, contains a mass of sound information, and will be 

 acceptable and useful to many. It is, in fact, good enough t^) 

 make one sincerely wish that it were better. 



" Tkk C.vmbridgk N.vtur.vl Histoby ; Amphihia and 

 RKPTtLEs." By Hans Cadow, it. A., f.r.s.. etc. (Jlacmillan.) 

 Illustrated. 17s. net.— It may be truly said-oi this volifme of 

 a valuable series that it is the only thoroughly scientific, and at 

 the same time readable, up-to-date account of the living and 

 extinct members of two very important and interesting group of 

 vertebrates. Dr. Gadow has devoted a great amount of attention 

 both to reptiles and amphiliians ; and, as might have been 

 expected, he has been led to introduce certain modifications in 

 regard to the scheme of chussification of the former grouji. No 

 true conception of the mutual relationships of the existing groups 

 of reptiles can possibly be entertained without including their 

 extinc-t relatives, and the author is therefore to be ctjngr.ifulated 

 on the large amount of space he has seen fit to accord to the 



presented among the living fauna of tlie 



gioups no longer represented among tne living launa oi iiie 

 globe. Very noteworthy are his ri'inarks with regard to Huxley's 

 propos,il to' brigade the ampliibians with the lislies on the one 

 h;.iul. and the repliles Willi the birds on the other. Allliough 

 liis objection to this anaiigemeiit is veiled ill the most polito 

 language, it is nevertheless intended to be a .strong one. And 

 while the 'author lays great stress on the almost complete 

 lii'nsitioii between aiiipliibiaiis, he refuses lo believe that lliu 

 extinct dinosaurs have any .sort of relationship with birds. 

 How intimate is the foniier coiiiieclion in the author's oimiion 

 may bi' inferreil by his |iiopnsal to r.iiiove certain species hitherto 

 clas.sed with the labyriiitlioclonl anipliibiaiis lo the repliles. 

 Neither does Dr. Gadow speak with any less uncertain voice us to 

 the relationship between reptiles and mammals. For after slating 

 that reptiles are derived from the labyrintliodont (or stegoceiilia- 

 ions) reptiles, he goes on lo say that niaiiinials trace their origin 

 to some branch of the extinct a"noiiiocloiit (Iheroniorphous) repliles. 

 As to birds, he believes tlieiii to have been evoked friiiii some 

 reptilian group at present unknown. 'J'lie New Zealand Uiatera 

 lizard is regarded as the most primitive of all living reptiles, and 

 from its ajicestors are considered to lie derived the snakes and 

 true lizards, thi the other hand, the ancestry of the chelonians 

 and crocodiles is traced to the oxtinct anomodonts, which also 

 gave rise to the dinosaurs and the great marine saurians of llie 

 svcondary jieriod. The inip<irlancc of the anomodonts, some of 

 which so strangely siimilale the delitilion of modern carnivorous 

 niaiiinials, can tlierefoic be scarcely over-rated. In this connection 

 it. is a m.itter for regret, that the recent discovery in Russia of 

 many types of these anomodonts, previously .supposed to be, con- 

 fined to SoMth Africa, came too late to be nienticmed. Although 

 Dr. Ihidow enters somewhat deeply into technical details, his 

 language is for the most part so siiii'ple that it ('an be understood 

 by any reader of average intelligence with a little trouble, (hie 

 of the most generally interesting subjects touched upon is the 

 history of the .so-called gia,nt tortoises of the oceanic i.slands. 

 One of these, which was handed over to the British with the 

 cession of Mauritius in 1810, .still lives at I'ort Louis, where it 

 was received lirst in 1766. The impending I'Xtinction of these 

 huge chelonians is much to be deplored. Less regret will bc^ felt 

 for the diminution in the numbers of the American alligator, which 

 is now huiiteil both bv wliite.s and Indians for the -sake of its 

 hide. The nunieious illustrations are all that can be desired 

 both from the .scientific and the arti.stic point of view; a special 

 feature being the introduction of small maps showing tlu' distri- 

 bution of various grouiis. Space, we regret to say, forbids a 

 fuller notice. But it niav confidently be said I hat by this work 

 Dr. tiadow has decidedly enhanced his reputation as one of the 

 foremost students and t'eachers of vertebrate zoology. 



" Tin-: LiFK and Lettkrs of Gilukrt Wditk, of Sklbobne." 

 Written and edited by his great grand-nephew Rashleigli Holt- 

 White. (.Murray.) 2 vols. Illustrated. 32s.— Kxccpt for the brief 

 memoirs in several of the many editions of Gilbert White's 

 "Selborno" (notablv that in Bell's edition), and for the life by 

 I'rof. Newton in the Dictionary of National Biography, there 

 has been hitherto no connected account of the career of our 

 best beloved naturalist. Although his life was singularly devoid 

 of striking incident, so much inlerest attaches to White and 

 \i\>i Selborne. that we welcome an authentic record of his career, 

 and further information regarding his country. Mr. Holt-White 

 tipologi.ses for the tact that although not a naturalist himself 

 he has undertaken to writ<' the life of perhaps the best known 

 naturalist, a fact which is resiionsible for a slight defect in 

 tlii-se volumes, since a naturalist could have niorc^ i-learly 

 explained tile value of White's observations, and traeed I heir 

 inlluence. To some extent, this defect is compensated fur by 

 many iBteresting and valuable notes contribuled by Prof. Ni'wioii. 

 'J'he "author's immediate reasim for publishing the biography appears 

 to have been t<i correct many erroneous statements, some occur- 

 ring in Bell's memoir, coneeriiiiig the circumstances of the life 

 of Gilbert. White. These eircunislaiici'S refer in the main to 

 the naturalist's character and sentiments, and we need only 

 remark that in our opinion Mr. Holt-Whitx- has conijiletely 

 abolished the misconccptiims which have arisen. The biography 

 consists chielly of correspondence between While and his leiatives 

 and friends, and of extracts from I lie. Garden and Naturalist's 

 Calendars. Many of these letters have never before bei'n jmb- 

 li.shed. and very" few of those appealing in the Natural Hi.story 

 of Selborne have been here reprintc'd. Tlii-y are carefully 

 arranged, and have been well connected and explained. They 

 reveal a grcjit deal of the character of tiie man. and tell us much I hat 

 is interesting of his occupations, ami of the manner of the life 

 of his times. Although White never went out of Kngland, as 

 far as this country is concerned he was a considerable traveller 

 for liis age, and" by no' means the recluse that he is some- 

 times pictured. The correspondence with his brother .loliii at 

 Gibraltar reveals his acuteness in detecting even from a 

 dcscripthm the nature of a bird or beast unknown lo liiin. 



