280 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
unsatisfactory, evidence, might also have been sound policy ; 
but one is naturally unwilling to dismiss from view species which 
have been not only described but figured in former editions of 
the work. 
We have been struck by the very few “‘errata’’ noted by the 
Editors, another instance of the care which has been exercised 
in the revision of the proof-sheets; and, if we may say so 
without appearing egotistical, we are gratified to find from the 
frequent reference which is made to the pages of ‘ The Zoologist’ 
how useful this Journal has been in the preparation of what 
must be regarded, at least for some time to come, as the best 
work of reference on British Birds. 
Die Pilzthiere oder Schleimpilze. Von Dr. W. Zorr. Breslau, 
1885. Extracted from the ‘ Enckyclopedie de Naturwissen- 
schaften. 
Tue title of this work, which, when translated into the 
language of the systematist, is the Mycetozoa or Myxomyctes, 
and the fact that a copy of it has been sent to this Journal for 
review, afford another proof that the best conception as to the 
prime classification of material things is becoming more widely 
adopted ; that classification, which was adopted by Linneus in 
his earlier, but altered in his later, works, was the division of 
things into mineral or Inorganisata, and biological or Organisata. 
It has again come into fashion with the recent advances in our 
knowledge, and might, indeed, have been foreseen by the 
prophetic eye the moment that there was established the identity 
of the “protoplasm” of vegetable and the “sarcode” of 
animal cells. 
Dr. Zopf is so well known as one of the most accurate of 
modern workers among the lowest Organisata that it is only 
necessary to mention the production of this carefully-compiled 
and well-illustrated handbook ; a detailed notice of its contents 
would, we think, be better found in a journal of Botany than of 
Zoology; practical considerations as well as theoretic views, 
however just, must always be borne in mind by editors of 
periodicals. 
