10 THE NAUTILUS. 



Several of the classics of natural history were inspired by 

 tropical America, but so far as we remember, no nature book 

 of interest to the general reader has taken Cuba, our nearest 

 tropical neighbor, for its subject. 



Although the author has special knowledge of mollusks, it 

 is quite evident that he is first of all a lover of nature. Now 

 it is the little Cuban tody which appeals to him, and again, a 

 big luminous beetle or a marvelous palm. His description of 

 the reef pools with their strange and beautiful families, of the 

 wierd land crabs and their ways, and of collecting marine animals 

 with a submarine electric light, stick in one's memory. What 

 naturalist can read about the *' Cove of delight" in the Vinales 

 Sierra without longing to visit that wonderful region. The 

 human interest which even the most vivid nature-book needs, 

 is supplied by the adventures and misadventures of the party 

 from day by day, and the contact with Cubans, for whom the 

 author evidently has a sympathetic liking. 



Thirty-seven full-page illustrations, charming Cuban views, 

 and characteristic animals and plants, add much to the interest 

 of the volume. The bird plates, by Fuertes, and those of 

 coral-pool fishes, are in color. 



Those who have been in the tropics will renew their thrills in 

 Mr, Henderson's pages, while naturalists who have not had 

 that experience as yet, may realize the conditions a naturalist 

 finds among the sierras, " mogotes " and on the coral reefs of 

 Cuba.— H. A. P. 



Review of some Bivalve Shells of the group Anatinacea 

 FROM THE West Coast of America. By William Healey Dall 

 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. 49, Nov. 1915). Pending the 

 appearance of a comprehensive work on the West American 

 marine shells, the series of descriptive and revisionary papers 

 by Doctor Dall is indispensable to working conchologists. The 

 present one deals with a group which has been little studied 

 on the West Coast. Six new species of Thracia, six of Cyatho- 

 donta, three Kennerlyia, one each of Coelodon, Foveadens and 

 Lyonsia are described, several being from such well-known 

 localities as Santa Barbara and San Diego Bay. Others are 



