438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



that we should like to quote, particularly his remarks on the 

 geographical relations of the New Zealand avifauna. We can 

 only add that whosoever desires to have a clear exposition of the 

 character and extent of this remarkable Ornis, should read care- 

 fully the pages xiii to lviii of the Introduction, after which the 

 detailed descriptions and life-history of the various species as 

 they are successively dealt with, leave practically nothing to be 

 desired. 



Curious Creatures : their Ways and Habits. By Marianne Bell. 

 Post 8vo, pp. 266. London. 1888. 



In this little volume we have a collection of essays which 

 were originally contributed to a magazine, and many of them 

 possess considerable literary merit. But while there is much 

 truth and pleasant reading in some of the chapters, there is 

 here and there a leaven of heterodox teaching, against which 

 the unwary reader should be placed on his guard. For example, 

 one is scarcely prepared at the present day to read that " among 

 the most remarkable of all the insects of the sea are the heavy 

 armour-covered crab and lobster." 



To such a sentence also as the following exception must be 

 taken : — " The whole of the forelimb of birds is so constructed as 

 to form the wing, which is useless except for flying." The author 

 has overlooked the fact that in the case of Penguins, which are 

 incapable of flight, the wings are extremely useful to them in 

 their progress under water ; while many birds, like the Common 

 Guillemot and Bazorbill, employ their wings in swimming as 

 well as in flying. 



A belief in dragons is implied in the statement that "Bats 

 may be said to resemble dragons in being possessed of an equiva- 

 lent to wings and forelimbs provided with claws, though they 

 greatly differ in regard to their size and power of destruction." 



The chapter on Frogs and Toads contains a few inaccuracies ; 

 for instance, the following: — "Thus we see the Tadpole is a 

 fish, swimming with a fish's tail, gulping in water at his mouth 

 and passing it out at the holes in his throat after it has been 

 poured over his fish-gills." The many elementary works on 

 Biology, in which the anatomy of the Frog is minutely described, 

 ought to have saved the writer from this misapprehension. 



