494 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



A communication was read from Lieut.-Col. C. Swinhoe, containing 

 an account of the Lepidoptera collected by him at Kurrachee between the 

 years 1878 and 1880. 



A communication was read from Mr. Thomas H. Potts, of Ohinitaki, 

 New Zealand, in which he described a case of hybridism between two 

 species of Flycatchers of the genus Rhij)idura. — P. L. Sclatek, Secretary. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Elementary Text-Book of Zoology. General Part and Special 

 Part: Protozoa to Insecta. By Dr. C. Claus ; Translated 

 and Edited by Adam Sedgwick, M.A. Pp. 615, figs. 491. 

 London : W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1884. 



It is with much satisfaction that we are able to announce the 

 publication of the first volume of Mr. Sedgwick's translation of 

 Prof. Claus' valuable Text-book of Zoology. It has for some time 

 been known that the translation was in course of preparation, and 

 teachei's and students alike have been anxiously waiting for its 

 appearance: teachers, because they have so often had to make 

 statements at variance with or in advance of what are to be found 

 in the text-books already published in English ; and students, 

 because they have been sighing for a work which should not be 

 too difficult of comprehension, and which should be really well 

 illustrated. 



It is, for Englishmen, a matter of painful i-eflection that the 

 best work yet known in the English language is that of Prof. 

 Gegenbaur, which is, as we all know, a translation from the 

 German, and is, moreover, a work on Comparative Anatomy, and 

 by no means on Zoology, as that term is ordinarily understood. 

 We are convinced ourselves that Comparative Anatomy, as taught 

 by Prof. Gegenbaur, is the best introduction to the study of the 

 phenomena of animal life ; on the other hand, man's suscepti- 

 bilities have to be considered, and, if of orderly disposition, a man 

 often wants to know something of how animals are grouped, and 

 is often desirous of learning some details as to creatures which, 

 interesting in themselves and their habits, are not always the most 

 appropriate objects of morphological demonstrations. 



For this numerous class the work of Prof. Claus is in all 

 respects to be recommended ; it is more easy of compi'eheiision. 



