Feb. 1, 1883 | 
say or think now of these new births at the average of 
over 1000 a year. The “examination of this large number 
of new names, as regards prior occupation,” the Editor 
states was necessarily superficial, we quite sympathise 
with him; before we read his footnote we rushed into 
the subject with the A’s, but on turning over to page 2 we 
saw how matters stood and we gave the critical business 
up at once, and it was obvious at a glance that the 
greatest genus maker of the year was Ernest Haeckel. 
The year 1881 showed a lull so far as the works on 
recent Mammalia were concerned—at least in comparison 
with 1880—but the flood of new extinct mammalian forms 
from North America shows no sign of abatement. In 
1881 the lamented Balfour completed his excellent and 
masterlike treatise on Embryology. The account of the 
Mammalia in Messrs. Salvin and Godman’s work on the 
Biology of Central America has been finished, and Peters 
and Doria have published an important work on the 
Mammals of New Guinea. 
The contribution to Bird Literature has been consider- 
able, and the year was marked by the appearance of two 
more volumes of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British 
Museum (vols. v. and vi.). Among the Reptiles, Batra- 
chians, and Fishes, no work of any very special import- 
ance seems to have appeared. Dr. von Martens still 
records the Mollusca and Crustacea. The record of the 
former group extends to 108 pages, and of the latter to 38 
pages ; both are most painstakingly executed. 
The literature of the Arachnida is more extensive than 
usual, and the year’s work is marked by the appearance 
of several important contributions by the Recorder, 
Holmberg, Karsch, Keyserling, Koch, Pavesi, Simon, 
and Thorell, so that it is evident that the Arachnid 
treasures of the world are at last being worked. Among 
the Myriopods, Cantoni’s Monograph of the Lombardy 
forms seems to call for notice. 
The enormous group of Insecta is recorded by Mr. 
Kirby, with the exception of the Neuroptera and Ortho- 
ptera, which fall to the skilled hands of Mr. McLachlan. 
The Vermes and Echinoderms are recorded by Prof. 
Jeffrey Bell; the Ccelenterata by A. G. Bourne and 
Sydney J. Hickson. It is remarkable that not a single 
new genus or species of any recent Octactiniz seems to 
have appeared in 1883, nor indeed any separate paper on 
the group. The Sponges and Protozoa have engaged the 
attention of Stuart O. Ridley; while nothing very 
striking seems to occur among the Sponge literature. 
Kent’s Manual of Infusoria, and Haeckel’s Prodomus of 
the Radiolaria mark the year ; among the Protozoa, the 
latter work records 483 new genera and 2000 new species 
—an almost embarassing number of pretty things. 
We are truly glad that the importance of this Record 
is still practically witnessed to by the generous help ren- 
dered to the Zoological Record Association by the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science and by the 
Grant Committee of the Royal Society. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Brewer, Distiller, and Wine Manufacturer. (London : 
J. and A. Churchill, 1883.) 
THE little work before us is the first of a series 
of technological handbooks to be issued by the pub- 
NATURE 
shill 
lishers, “each of which will be complete in itself, will 
appear in a handy form and at a low price.’’ Practically 
they will be a re-issue of articles in Cooley’s “‘Cyclopedia 
of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the 
Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades,” with a 
somewhat fuller treatment and with reference to the more 
recent developments which have taken place in industrial 
processes. As this, the first of these handbooks, treats of 
Alcohol and Alcoholimetry, Brewing and Beer, Cider, 
Liqueurs and Cordials, Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors, 
and lastly, Wine and Wine Making, necessarily much of 
the Encyclopedic form of treatment must remain, when 
such important industries are discussed in so small a 
compass. 
Though we cannot endorse the statement of the pub- 
lishers, that each handbook will be comp/efe in itself, we 
are compelled to admit that the Editor has given a 
remarkably well condensed /réczs of what has been 
written on industrial fermentation frocesses. 
The first chapter describes the sources of alcohol, its 
detection in liquids, and its estimation by volume and by 
weight : numerous tables are given for this purpose. In 
addition to the usual distillation process, the methods of 
Balling, Gréning, Brossard- Vidal, Silbermann, Geissler, 
and others are described; this part of the book must 
prove of much use to the technologist. 
Brewing is described in fifty pages ; this is sufficient to 
show how condensed the treatment of one of the largest 
industries in the kingdom must necessarily be. Brief 
though it be the Editor deserves the highest praise for the 
manner in which he has condensed the vast mass of facts 
now accumulated in this department of fermentation 
chemistry. In addition to the description of the English 
processes of malting, mashing, and fermentation, a brief 
account is given of the German Lager beer system now 
almost universal on the continents of Europe and North 
America. This is supplemented by a large number of 
elaborate analyses of English and ‘‘ Lager” beers, show- 
ing the characteristic differences in the products of the 
two methods. Brief though this part of the handbook is, 
it will be found of interest to the general reader and of 
value to the practical brewer, who may not have hitherto 
given much attention to the scientific part of his manu- 
facturing process. 
In Chapter V. we have a full account of the mashing 
and fermentation processes adopted by the distiller and 
rectifier, including the methods followed by the latter to 
remove some of the fusel oils and to flavour ‘still”’ spirit 
so as to produce gins, whiskies, &c., of various taste and 
aroma. A useful feature in this part of the work will be 
found in the descriptions and drawings of the stills of 
Coffey, Siemens, Derosne, Laugier, Dorn, Pistorius, 
Pontifex and Wood, and others; this will be found of 
much interest to distillers, more especially in our colonies, 
where technical information is more difficult to obtain 
than in the old country. 
The sixth and last chapter treats of Wine and its Manu- 
facture. 
After a brief description of the soils and manures 
best suited to the culture of the vine, we have an enume- 
ration and description of some of the better known wines, 
such as Lafitte, Latour, Margaux, Haut Brion, Leoville, 
and other red wines of the Gironde, and of the white 
Graves, as Sauterne, Barsac, Chateau Yquem, Latour, 
&c.; of the Burgundies, Romanée Conti, Chambertin, 
Clos Vougeot, Clos St. George, and La Tache, and of 
some of the wines of the Champagne, Beaujolais and 
other vine districts of France. 
A brief account is given of the so-called Hocks of the 
Rhine, and those of the valleys of the Moselle, Ahn, and 
other rivers of Germany. In the description given of 
wine-making some use is made of the invaluable treatise 
by Messrs. Dupré and Thudichum (“On the Origin, 
Nature, and Varieties of Wine,’’ Macmillan), a work 
