50 



NATURE 



[November 17, iSc 



when the author himself admits that the nearest relations 

 of the tinamoiis are the Slriithiones (Ra/i/ae) on the one 

 hand, and the game birds on the other, it seems decidedly 

 strange that the latter group is not placed in juxta- 

 position. 



The mention of Struthiones reminds us that the 

 student perusing the table of contents would gain the 

 idea that the group includes only the two extinct families 

 Aepyprnitliidac and Dinornithidac^ since these two are 

 alone mentioned. On turning to the corresponding text, 

 it will be found that only these two families are referred 

 to by name, from which we draw the inference that Mr. 

 Beddard has^ allowed his table of contents to be com- 

 piled for him. Of course either all or none of the 

 families should have been given. 



Reverting to the orders, it may be noted that Mr. 

 Beddard includes the flamingoes (omitted from the table 

 of contents !) in the Herodiones, refusing to admit that 

 they have any relationship with the Anscres. In this he 

 is fully supported by osteology. In placing the extinct 

 Hesporornis next the divers, we are glad to see that he 

 rejects the recently revived heresy of the Ratite affinities 

 of the former. But whether the penguins are well 

 placed between the Hespci-ornithcs and the Stegano- 

 podes may perhaps be open to question. On the other 

 hand, the location of the owls next the parrots, in 

 association with various -groups of the old " Picariae," 

 will probably meet with general approbation. 



As regards the ancestry of birds, the author, while 

 refusing to reject a dinosaurian affinity, is inclined to 

 admit some kind of relationship with pterodactyles. It' 

 is, however, somewhat difficult to understand such a 

 double consanguinity. 



In conclusion, attention may be drawn to the remark- 

 able difference displayed by the caeca of different genera 

 of tinamous, as exemplified by the figures on p. 488. 

 The mere record of such differences is, it is true, an 

 addition to knowledge ; but, as has been remarked by 

 Prof Newton, what we really want to know is the 

 physiological reason for such variations. And until this 

 is ascertained, we are merely wandering aimlessly in the 

 dark. 



As an excellent compendium of the present state of 

 our knowledge of bird anatomy, Mr. Beddard's work 

 may be heartily commended. The blemishes by which 

 the present issue is disfigured may, we hope, be removed 

 in a second edition, which ought to be called for at no 

 very distant date. R. L. 



EGYPTIAN MUMMIES IN THE BRITISH 

 MUSEUM. 



British Afttseum. A Guide to the First and Second 

 Egyptian Rooms. Mummies, Mummy-Cases, and other 

 Objects connected uith the Ftinera/ Rites 0/ the Ancient 

 Egyptians. By E. A. VVallis Budge, M.A., Litt.D., 

 D.Lit., F.S.A., Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian 

 Antiquities. Pp. viii -I- 92, with 25 plates. (Printed by 

 order of the Trustees, 1898.) 



THE national collection of Egyptian antiquities in the 

 British Museum is, speaking generally, the most 

 complete in Europe. Other collections may perhaps excel 

 NO. 1 516, VOL. .59] 



:~ '. ~~: : ii 



it in certain classes of antiquities as, for instance, the 

 Louvre in its unique series of .-Xpis stelae discovered by 

 Mariette, or the Berlin Museum in its specimens of sculp- 

 ture from tombs of the Early Empire. But the collection} 

 in the British Museum is the finest representative collec-j 

 tion, comprising as it does typical examples of antiquiticBi 

 of most classes and periods. This is nowhere truer than' 

 in the two galleries which are set apart for objects con- 

 nected with the funeral rites of the ancient Egyptians. 

 During the last twenty-five years, and more particularly 

 during the last ten years, the Trustees of the Museum 

 have been steadily increasing their already fine collection 

 of mummies and mummy-cases, so that they are now in 

 possession of a remarkable series ranging over most of 

 the historical period of Egyptian history, from about B.C. 

 36CXD to .\.n. 400. Moreover, the work of arranging and 

 cataloguing the collection has kept pace with that of 

 acquisition. During the past eighteen months any visitor 

 to the Egyptian Department might have noticed a small 

 army of workmen setting in place new wall-cases and 

 standard-cases, remounting the mummies and coffins, 

 and, under the direction of the Keeper, arranging then) 

 in chronological order. This work has now been brought 

 to an end with the issue of the "Guide to the First and 

 Second Egyptian Rooms'' that has just been published 

 by the Trustees. 



To give some idea of the scope of the Guide, it may 

 here be stated that the collection exhibited in these two 

 rooms consists of forty-four mummies and eighty coffins 

 and cartonnage-cases, including typical e.xamples of all 

 periods; wooAtnfi^uTGS o{ Ptah-Seker-Ausiir, the triune 

 Egyptian god of the resurrection ; shabti figures of 

 stone, wood, and glazed porcelain, which were placed in 

 the tombs to do the work of the deceased in the nether 

 world ; and sets of Canopic jars, in which the principal 

 intestines of the deceased were placed, after being removed 

 from the body before the process of embalming. The 

 Guide describes the contents of the galleries, case by 

 case, and as these are arranged in chronological order 

 we can examine and compare at leisure the changing 

 fashions and methods of embalming which were prac- 

 tised by the Egyptians during the long course of their 

 history. 



In his Introduction, for the benefit of students who are 

 not Egyptologists, Dr. Budge gives a sketch of the prin- 

 cipal features of the Egyptian religion, emphasising their 

 belief in a supreme being, neter, apart from the neteni, 

 the personifications of special powers or natural pheno- 

 mena. He then sketches the principal views held by the 

 Egyptians with regard to the nature of the gods and the 

 origin of the universe, and this is followed by a de* 

 scriptive list of the gods mentioned in the " Book of the 

 Dead," and whose names are frequently met with in th^ 

 main body of the Guide. Passing to the Egyptian idea 

 of a future life. Dr. Budge enumerates the nine parts 

 which were believed to form a man's personality ; the 

 ritual and ceremonies are next referred to which accomr 

 panied the de])osit of the dead body in the tomb, an(| 

 wjiich were gradually grouped together by the Egyptiail 

 priests into a number of chapters now generally knowd 

 as the " Book of the Dead." Finally an account of 

 the diflf'erent methods of mummifying is given, and the 

 tomb is described with its funereal furniture. 



