Jan., 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



19 



to be in more than one country at one time, and since we pre- 

 sume their journeys are more or less premeditated, we cannot 

 see why the author should not leave them to select the appro- 

 priate books for themselves. His own volume will certainly 

 prove but a broken reed to trust to. It is a pity that matters 

 utterly outside the scope of this book should have been intro- 

 duced. So far as the sportsman's side is concerned. Colonel 

 Le Messurier's t^uidance will be confidently followed, for he 

 unquestionably knows his subject. But there can be no doubt 

 that those parts which are admittedly compiled from abstruse 

 scientific treatises, or from the labels in the Natural History 

 Museum at South Kensington, should be ruthlessU' suppressed. 

 When they are not inaccurate, and out of date, they are out 

 of place, and worse than useless, because they take up valuable 

 space. An introduction giving a summary of the varied geo- 

 graphical features of India and the peculiarities of the avi- 

 fauna of the several regions which may be distinguished 

 would have been of immense help. To this might have been 

 added the observations which Colonel Le ^iessurier must 

 have made in the habits of birds and their relation to the 

 environment. To those about to enter upon civil or military 

 life in India such a chapter would be helpful indeed. A 

 collection of native legends and superstitions concerning the 

 birds of India would have still further added to the value and 

 usefulness of this book. We hope ihat these things may yet 

 be done. This work is profusely illustrated, but on the whole 

 the figures are about as bad as any it has ever been our lot to 

 criticise. These remarks are made in no spirit of captious 

 criticism, but with a view to make of this work a really valu- 

 able, up-to-date guide to the "Game" Birds of India. 



"The Cambridge Natural History " (Fishes, Ascidians, Sec.)- 

 by Various Authors (Macmillan and Co., Limited; price, 

 17s. net). We have the greatest satisfaction in welcoming the 

 somewhat belated appearance of this long-expected volume, 

 as a trustworthy and up-to-date work on fishes written on 

 more or less popular lines was a desideratum. On the whole, 

 this volume, which is bulkier than any of its fellows, may be 

 said to fulfil what was expected of it ; although portions of it, 

 owing to having been set up in type for a considerable time, 

 are a little out of date ; and there is a certain amount of dis- 

 advantage attending the dual authorship of the portion 

 devoted to fishes, as it is difficult to ascertain to what extent 

 each of the two eminent contributors is responsible for, and 

 approves of, the general sj'stematic arrangement of the 

 members of the class Pisces. Before going further, it should 

 however, be mentioned that the relegation of the sections 

 dealing with the lower chordates to authors other than those 

 responsible for the fishes was quite a proper, and indeed 

 essential, proceeding ; and we may congratulate Professors 

 Harmer and Herdman on the very excellent and exhaustive 

 manner in which they have severally treated their sections of 

 the subject. .'Vs regards the fishes, while Professor Bridge, of 

 Birmingham, has undertaken the morphological part of the 

 subject together with much of the systematic work, the 

 taxonomy of the modern bony fishes and their immediate 

 extinct relatives has fallen to the share of Mr. Houlenger, the 

 fish-expert of the British Museum. His rearrangement of 

 these fishes (which has already been published in the Annals 

 and Maf:;azinc of Nalui-nl History) considerably modifies pre- 

 vious conceptions as to the mutual relationships of some of 

 the groups, and may be regarded as a distinct advance in 

 systematic natural history. As a small instance of the 

 want of uniformity due to divided authorship, we may 

 refer to the two family names Ostcolepitia- and Lcptokpidida:. 

 As regards Mr. Bridge's contribution, it cannot fail to be 

 noticed that the morphological side receives much fuller treat- 

 ment than is accorded to the systematic section — a by no 

 means unmixed advantage, we venture to think, in what is sup- 

 posed to be, in great measure, a popular work. The chief feature 

 in the taxonomy whereby this part of the work differs from 

 many treatises now in use is the inclusion of the chimaeras and 

 their allies (Chimceroidci) in the same group with the sharks 

 and rays (Elasmohranchii). The essential difference in the 

 structure of the skull of the two groups is, in Mr. Bridge's 

 opinion, an adaptive feature, due perhaps to the great deve- 

 lopment of the structures which serve the function of teeth in 

 fishes of this group. We are inclined to think that the author 

 maybe right in his view; and we should be still more disposed 

 to endorse his scheme if the chimaeroids were not such an 

 ancient group. In the suppression of the term Actinopterygii 



for the whole of the fan-finned tcleostomous fishes, as opposed 

 to the group Crossopicry^ii for the bichir and its relatives, we 

 cannot think the author (or authors ?) has been well advised. 

 Moreover, we regret to see the familiar name Cestracioii of the 

 Port Jackson shark displaced by Hetcroihmics, especially as 

 we ourselves consider the use of the latter term barred by (he 

 existence of the name Heterodou. As a whole, however, we 

 cannot but express our opinion of the high scientific value of 

 the latest volume of the excellent Canihrid^^c Satural History. 



" A Later Pepys," by Alice C. C. Gaussen (John Lane, 2 vols.). 

 There was another Pepys, who followed him, and who, in the 

 opinion of his time, as well as of his polite friends, was a much 

 more distinguished person than the immortal Diarist. He was 

 Sir William Pepys, Master in Chancery, born in 1740, and by 

 reason of his great literary abilities, and his personal charm, 

 the associate and correspondent of many who formed what we 

 should call the literary circle of the latter part of the eighteenth 

 century. His letters to Hannah More, Mrs. Montagu, Mr. 

 James McDonald, Major Rennell, Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, 

 have been preserved, and, collected in these volumes, form a 

 very interesting and valuable record of the thoughts, manners, 

 and conversation of these times. We should, perhaps, say 

 now that Sir William was flattered by knowing " the best 

 people " ; but if he was proud of their intimacy and converse, 

 they were no less proud of his, for he seems to have been 

 emphatically one of those Men of the Time who, like othersin 

 our own day and generation, create an impression that much 

 higher achievement was in their powers than they ever put 

 forth their energies to grasp. However that may be, Sir 

 William Pepys was a distinguished, amiable gentleman, to 

 who.se accomplishments his biographer's handsome volumes do 

 ample justice. The only fault we have to find is that the 

 letters, instead of being arranged chronologically, are grouped 

 under the persons to whom they were addressed. 



Who's Who. — One might say of the yearly publication of 

 " Who's Who " (A. & C. Black), as already has been said of 

 London's service of messenger boys, that we cannot imagine 

 how the world ever managed without it. It is as indispensable 

 to the journalist or the man of business as a rhyming diction- 

 ary is to a poet, or a "The.saurus" to a neophyte in letters, 

 and we feel something of the same gratitude for its unfailing 

 readiness to supply information as we experience towards 

 such benefactors of the public as the postman or the City 

 policeman. It is, to speak seriously, an extremely useful and 

 an extremely well-edited work; it contains 17,000 biographies 

 on its 2,000 pages, and it is, take it for all in all, the cheapest 

 sevenand-sixpenny-worth that is published. It is the Bio- 

 graphical Directory of the working professional man. 



Whitaker's. — There is no new thing to be said of " Whitaker's 

 Almanack," which, with the neat, concise, and handy " Whit- 

 aker's Peerage," makes its unfailing appearance at this time 

 of year, for even if one were to say that it possesses several 

 new features this year, one would but be repeating an observa- 

 tion which is true of it every year. Speaking from the point 

 of view of a scientific review we should welcome a little more 

 attention to science, or to the scientific aspects of industry, 

 among its able summaries. But one cannot expect every- 

 thing within its covers ; and the information which is given is 

 remarkable for its usefulness, its universality, its just propor- 

 tions, and its unblemished accuracy. 



The Englishwoman's Year Book.— This is a publication 

 which, like -'Who's Who," is published by Messrs. A. & C. 

 Black, and is gaining for itself with some rapidity the same 

 position of indispensabihty. Nothing that concerns women, 

 especially working women, is alien to it ; and wc can sug- 

 gest no improvement beyond the addition of a more charac- 

 teristic calendar. The calendars, we think, might well em- 

 brace the birthdays of famous women. 



X-Ray and Electro-Physical Apparatus. — Mr. A. C. Co.ssor, of 

 54, Farringdon Road, has sent us a copy of his recently-issued 

 list, covering the various specialities manufactured by him. 

 Beyond X-ray and allied apparatus the catalogue comprises 

 many articles of use or interest to the worker on the physical 

 side of science. We are glad to notice that there are several 

 scientifically trained assistants on the staff of the firm, the 

 importance of which cannot be overrated where the require- 

 ments of modern science are to be successfully carried out. 



