Bihlioyrapliical Notices. 479 



it amply fulfils its promise. Tlio statistics of the annual sales of furs 

 by tho Hudson's Bay Company from 1800 to 1890, as well as of 

 other American and Canadian furs from 1763 to 1891, arc very 

 useful, and so are the short histories of tho Skinners' and other 

 companies, the descriptions of the arts of dressing and dyeing pelts, 

 the observations on tariffs, and the notices of fairs and periodical 

 sales. It is astonishing to find on unimpeachable evidence that the 

 Hudson's Bay Company sold in 1S8G no fewer than 73,878 skins, 

 and in 1887 78,555 skins, of the lynx ; and it would be interesting 

 to know if, in those somewhat exceptional years of plenty, the 

 periodical increase of the American rabbit, on which the lynx is 

 known to prey largely, had reached its maximum. Again, the 

 wolverine or glutton enjoys the reputation of being the despair of 

 hunters, taking their baits and springing their traps without, as a 

 rule, falling a victim itself ; yet even this cunningest of animals can 

 be circumvented, as shown by the returns of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, which often exceed 2000 skins in a year, Avhilc in 1889, 

 1131 were obtained from other sources. These instances, out of 

 many which might be adduced, will serve to show that the whole 

 of the Introduction is replete with information ; but in the second 

 and principal portion of the work, which is intended " to be a con- 

 necting link between commerce and science," and to interest " the 

 general public by adding small sketches of the habits of the animals 

 described," the result is not so satisfactory. An undigested mass of 

 notes made from time to time appears to have been sent to the 

 printer ; and although some of these notes are recent and valuable, 

 while tho author's remarks are of importance so long as he confines 

 himself to the trade with which he is familiar, yet there are other 

 statements which are very remarkable. It is startling to be told 

 that seals are to be found in the " Balkan " (p. 214) ; that " in 

 Scotland the Manes of the slain bear was [sic] exorcised by the 

 women'" (p. 161) ; and (p. 171) that the Indian sloth-bear "would 

 probably interbreed with the black bear of America, and if the 

 offspiing of these two bears should prove fertile, it would necessitate 

 their being classed as one species " ! Without admitting the 

 sequitur we will, in connexion with this subject, make Mr. Poland 

 and our readers the present of an interesting fact which appears to 

 have escaped the notice of the recorder of Mammalia in the ' Zoolo- 

 gical Record ' for 1888. Dr. Nills, the Director of the Zoological 

 Gardens at Stuttgart, states that, having obtained two litters by 

 crossing male Ursus mariUmus with female Ursus arctos, he then 

 crossed a female hybi-id with male U. manthnus, and produced 

 offspring exactly like the polar bear in shape and colour. Turning 

 to the hya3na, Mr. Poland seems to be acquainted with only one 

 species, namely the South African //. crocuta, for under this heading 

 ho tells us that " 1650 hyrenas were killed in British India in 1886," 

 apparently without a suspicion that these must have been //. striata. 

 It is a pity that tho author did not secure the assistance of some 

 zoologist, who would have struck out many of the errors and even 

 absurdities which this book contains, especially in connexion with 



