1889. | Recent Literature. 63 
of the writer’s personal experience with them, these biographies being, 
moreover, very pleasantly written. The immature and other special plu- 
mages of many of the species are also described at length. The twelve 
plates, drawn by Messrs. R. and J. L. Ridgway, are not satisfactory pro- 
ductions, the original colored drawings having been very faultily ren- 
dered by the lithographer. 
Besides the extended bird matter, the work contains a very important 
report on the mammals, with the identifications and technical notes by 
Mr. F. W. True; another on the fishes, with notes by Dr. T. H. Bean; 
and a third on the Diurnal Lepidoptera, in conjunction with Mr. Harry 
Edwards.—J. A. A. 
Jordan’s New Manual of Vertebrates.*—The fifth edition of President 
Jordan’s ‘Manual of the Vertebrates’ of the northeastern United States 
is practically a new work, not only being entirely rewritten and greatly 
enlarged, but so far extended in scope as to take in not only a considera- 
bly enlarged area (Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Provinces of Can- 
ada), but the marine species of the Eastern Coast from North Carolina to 
Nova Scotia. While presenting the same size and appearance externally 
as former editions, it contains probably double the amount of text, 
through the use of smaller type anda much larger type bed. The plan of 
the work is also essentially modified, and its general character greatly 
improved, through the fuller diagnoses given, and the analytical keys be- 
ing based on structural characters instead of on artificial distinctions. 
The order of arrangement is also inverted, the fishes being treated first 
and the mammals last. The latest conclusions seem to be given in re- 
spect to questions of classification and nomenclature, and the work thus 
authoritatively brought down to date. For birds the arrangement and 
nomenclature of the A. O. U. Check-List is adopted. The reception 
given former editions shows that the work meets a want, which the new 
edition must fill toa much greater degree than has been the case hereto- 
fore, thus rendering the ‘Manual’ still more worthy of the large patron- 
age itis sure to receive. The bird partis especially to be commended, 
in so far as such limited space can give salient and distinctive charac- 
ters, it being indeed a multum in parvo.—J. A. A. 
Sharpe’s Birds in Nature.+— The present volume is elegantly gotten 
up, as regards typography, paper, and exterior, with elaborate designs in 
*A Manualof the Vertebrate Animals of the United States, including the District 
north and east of the Ozark Mountains, south of the Laurentian Hills, north of the 
southern boundary of Virginia, and east of the Missouri River, inclusive of’ Marine 
Species. By David Starr Jordan, President of the University of Indiana. Fifth Edi- 
tion, entirely rewritten and enlarged. Chicago: A.C. McClurg and Company. 1888. 
8vo, pp. ili + 375. 
+Birds in Nature. By R. Bowdler Sharpe, F. L. S., F. Z.S., Zodlogical Depart- 
ment, British Museum, etce., etc., etc. With Thirty-nine Colored Plates, and other 
Illustrations, by P. Robert. Boston: Estes & Lauriat. 1888. 4to.pp.v-+ 78. 
