BihliograpMcal Notices. 57 



notice of the living relations of the animals to each other and the 

 outer world is indispensable in many cases. The book is an admir- 

 able guide for the zoological student, and its value is greatly 

 increased by the copious lists of authorities given at the end of each 

 chapter and by the copious glossary with which it terminates. 



VVe have yet to say a tew words upon the illustrations of the 

 work. These, as in former editions, are all woodcuts ; but their 

 number has been greatly increased in the present issue, the new 

 figures being for the most part derived from the most important of 

 the many valuable memoirs which have appeared during the last 

 few years. The execution of these new figures is admirable, and as 

 they have been most judiciously selected they add greatly to the 

 value of the book. 



Living Lights ; a Popular Account of Phosphorescent Animals and 

 Vegetables. By C. F. Holder. London, 1887. 



We must own to being a little disappointed with Mr. Holder's last 

 book, for it bears obvious marks of haste in the structure of many 

 of the sentences and the form in which scientific terms have been 

 allowed to pass the " reader's " eye. However, we do not suppose 

 that these failings will strike the kind of reader whom we imagine 

 Mr. Holder wishes to attract. The book is strictly a popular one, 

 the " systematic portions necessary to the student," which have 

 been " placed in an appendix," being very unequal : to whom, pray, 

 is the information addressed that Ophiura is so called " on account 

 of the resemblance to snakes in its arms " ? The scientific man 

 does not want it, and if the schoolboy does he will wonder whether 

 the author means really that Virgnlaria is derived from vira, a rod ; 

 for the schoolboy (happy youth !) knows not of misj^rints. The 

 " Neiridae and Eunicedaj " are not " genera of the group Annelida." 

 The Bibliography is simply shocking — e. g. " Ehrenberg. Das 

 Leuchten des SJ eeres. Abhandlung," or " Leydig, Professor. Bonn, 

 Germany. Phosphorescence of Pishes. 10 plates : " but this, per- 

 haps, is the gem for an English book, " 1875. Darwin. Voyage 

 d'un Naturaliste autour du Monde. Paris." 



The illustrations are fairlj' good, and we hope Mr. Holder or his 

 publishers have made some pecuniary recompense to those who first 

 produced them, for no acknowledgment of assistance is made in the 

 book itself. 



The book is hardly one for the ordinary readers of the ' Annals ; ' 

 but those who are blessed with children will probably find that they 

 think the writer in their father's journal a great deal too severe. 



