142 The Ottawa Naturalist. [October 



can afford to be without. It is interesting to note that of over 

 250 figures of eggs and young of fishes, about 70 are from draw- 

 ings by the President of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club* 

 The beautiful plate of the stickleback, which forms the frontis- 

 piece, is also from his pencil, and the references to Professor 

 Prince's researches upon fish-life abound throughout the work, 

 which, as the authors say in their preface, owes much to the 

 " researches of Mcintosh and Prince," published in 1890 by the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh 



A worthy summary of the results obtained by diligent 

 workers, in Europe and on this continent, has been eagerly 

 looked for, and by all competent to judge, this publication ad- 

 equately fills the vacant place. It is true that two small books 

 by Mr, J. T. Cunningham, of the Plymouth Laboratory, have 

 appeared, one upon "The Sole" and the other on "British 

 Marketable Fishes," but their scope was limited, and they had 

 little scientific importance. The present work, as Professor Ray 

 Lankester pointed out in his review in " Nature," August 12th, 

 1897, "appears to be less directly addressed to the general 

 public than that of Mr. Cunningham" ; but in no sense is it, as 

 Prof. Lankester erroneously assumes, a supplement to Mr. Cun- 

 ningham's publications. It stands on a different level, and is 

 addressed to a different class of readers, and while the minor 

 books, no doubt, serve well enough for fishermen, the present 

 work meets the needs of students and investigators by the range 

 and amplitude of its treatment. If any complaint can be made 

 it is that so much of the work done at the St. Andrews Marine 

 Laboratory, Scotland, has been laid under contribution ; but this 

 was inevitable, for that small zoological station has accomplished 

 in this field results wholly disproportionate to its cost and equip- 

 ment. The meagre scientific results yielded by costly stations 

 at Plymouth, Granton, Rothesay and other points on the British 

 coast, are to be explained by the bad locations selected and the 

 paucity of fish-life there. 



