' NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 79 



are of recent calcareous formation. Barrier and fringing reefs 

 occur, as well as atolls. A comparatively shoal sea surrounds 

 the archipelago, and, including the New Britain and Admiralty 

 Islands, stretches to New Guinea, and thence to Australia, 

 sufficiently accounting for the Papuan character of its fauna. 



Dr. Guppy's narrative of his researches will awaken a new 

 interest in this long-neglected group of islands, and encourage, 

 as we may hope, the further investigation of its Zoology. 



A Manual of Zoology for the Use of Students, tvith a General 

 Introduction on the Principles of Zoology. By H. A. 

 Nicholson, M.D., Begius Professor of Natural History in 

 the University of Aberdeen. Seventh Edition, rewritten 

 and enlarged, with numerous illustrations. 8vo. Edinburgh 

 and London : Blackwood & Sons. 1887. 



The appearance of a seventh edition of Professor Nicholson's 

 'Manual' testifies to its popularity, and to the continued demand 

 for a comprehensive Introduction to the study of Zoology. To 

 supply this in one volume of a portable size is by no means an 

 easy task, nor is it possible where such a work is written by one 

 hand to attain a uniform standard of excellence. 



For beginners, as it seems to us, Prof. Nicholson has written 

 too much, and for advanced students not enough. He probably 

 flatters himself he has hit upon the happy mean, but this is a 

 case where there ought not to be any middle course ; the book 

 should be one thing or the other, either an elementary manual 

 or an advanced text-book. 



With regard to the classification which he has adopted, 

 opinions no doubt will differ, and Prof. Nicholson is assuredly 

 entitled to his own ; but in certain respects it strikes us as being 

 not quite in harmony with the most recent views published by 

 specialists. 



One commendable feature should not be unnoticed — namely, 

 the bibliographies which are printed at the end of each division 

 of the work. But here again we regret our inability to bestow 

 unqualified praise, and for this reason : — the works recommended 

 are arranged neither alphabetically under authors' names, nor 

 chronologically to enable the reader to trace the growth of 

 literature on any given subject. The titles seem to have been 



