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~ MAMMALIAN EVOLUTION. 
A History of Land Mammals in the Western 
Hemisphere. .By Prof. W. By Scott. Pp.xiv 
+693. (New York: The Macmillan Company ; 
London: Macmillan and’CGo., Ltd., 1913.) 
Price 21s. net. 
“THIS important work is, perhaps, the most 
successful attempt that has yet been made 
to bring within the reach of the lay reader a 
general account of the past history of the mam- 
malia, a history for the reconstruction of which 
a vast amount of material is now available. It 
may be regretted that the author has found it 
necessary to confine his work to the mammals of 
the Western Hemisphere, but since the successive 
faunas inhabiting that region, particularly the 
northern half, are far better known than those of 
the Old World, none of the main lines along 
which evolution has proceeded within the group 
is left without adequate illustration. The much 
greater degree of completeness of our know- 
ledge of the mammals of the New World is not 
merely due to the occurrence there ot a more 
nearly continuous series of mammal-bearing ter- 
tiary deposits, but also to the systematic collect- 
ing that has been carried out, both in the north 
and south, by expeditions organised by the 
museums and universities. Prof. Scott has him- 
self led such expeditions on several occasions. 
The plan of the work is excellent, especially 
from the point of view of the general reader. The 
earlier chapters give a simple summary of the 
methods of investigation, both from a geological 
and paleontological point of view. A valuable 
chapter is added giving a brief, but clear, account 
of the mammalian skeleton and dentition; this 
with the accompanying figures should render the 
descriptions given in the later part of the work 
easily understood. A chapter on the living mam- 
mals of America is followed by a history of the 
succession of mammalian to the 
earliest Eocene, being 
omitted. 
an introduction to mammalian paleontology gen- 
erally. In the succeeding part of the work the 
evolution of each group is traced in detail from its 
earliest appearance onwards, and it is this section 
which will be a revelation to those who are un- 
acquainted with the enormous amount of material 
for the history of the phylum that has accumulated 
during the last quarter of a century. All zoolo- 
gists who, from various points of view, are 
NOW2335; VOL. 93] 
faunas’ back 
the pre-Tertiary forms 
So far the volume may be regarded as | 
| 
dealing with the question of the manner in which 
evolution has taken place, should read this sum- 
mary of results, in which much light is thrown on 
such points as the occurrence of parallel and 
convergent evolution and on the origin of poly- 
phyletic groups. 
It is often forgotten that in paleontology we 
| are dealing with what actually has happened, and 
nowhere is this better known than in the case of 
the mammalia. Prof. Scott himself seems to be 
somewhat unduly pessimistic as to the present 
state of paleontology, comparing it with the con- 
dition of philology in the time of Voltaire, whose 
famous remark: ‘‘L’étymologie est une science 
ou les voyelles ne font rien et les consonnes fort 
peu de chose,” he quotes. The fact that it has 
been possible to write this book seems to be suf- 
ficient proof that matters are not so bad as he 
appears to believe. 
A large number of excellent illustrations are 
given, many being restorations of extinct mam- 
mals, a considerable number now appearing for 
the first time. A useful glossary and a very 
complete index are appended. CC. WA: 
THE PRODUCTION AND UTILISATION 
OF. CROPS: 
(1) The Manuring of Market Garden Crops. 
Dr. Bernard Dyer and F. W. E. Shrivell. 
Edition. Revised and brought up to date. 
149. (London: Vinton and Co., Ltd. 
Price Is: pigs 
(2) The Chemistry of Cattle Feeding and Dairying. 
By J. Alan Murray. Pp. xii+343. (London: 
Longmans, Green and Co., 1914.) » Price 6s. 
net. 
(3) Garden Farming. By L. GC.) Corbett. Ep. 
x +473. (Boston and London: Ginn and Co., 
n.d.) Price 8s. 6d. 
(1) HE first book on our list, by Dr. Dyer 
TT and Mr. Shrivell, is now well-known 
to all who are concerned in the raising of market 
garden crops. It gives the results of a series 
of trials at Golden Green, Hadlow, Tonbridge, 
which were begun in 1894 and have been system- 
atically carried out since, so that they are now 
in their twentieth year. 
When the experiments began little was known 
as to the effect of the various artificial manures 
on market garden crops. Many trials had been 
made with ordinary farm crops, but not much had 
been done with fruit and practically nothing with 
ordinary vegetables. The market gardener still 
By 
New 
Pp. 
1913.) 
| used large quantities of stable manure and looked 
with more or less suspicion on all the purchased 
Z 
