October 6, 19 lo] 



NATURE 



427 



and the maps are distinctly valuable, but there are 

 certain difficulties with regard to this method of pre- 

 senting the facts of oleography. In the first place, the 

 statistics given should be averages for a series of 

 years, and diagrams should show the proportions of 

 their various parts ; the diagrams relating to the pro- 

 duction of cereals, &c., give no statement of the pro- 

 portions in which the different areas contribute to the 

 total production. Further, maps w-ithout some other 

 form of data are apt to be misleading ; for example, 

 the traditional English idea of Canada is that it is a 

 producer of wheat. The fact that Canada produces 

 more oats than wheat does not appear from the maps 

 in. the atlas. Oats are, curiously enough, omitted 

 from the economic map of the United States and 

 Canada. Similarly, in regard to the maps of 

 minerals, such as iron and coal, it would be dis- 

 tinctly useful if some indication were added as to the 

 areas in which the mineral deposits are being worked ; 

 for example, coal and iron are shown in India, but 

 there is no indication that practically the only mining 

 carried on in India is for coal. 



The three additions to the Cambridge Countv 

 Geographies, "Devonshire" (6), "Dorset" (7), and 

 " Derbyshire " (8), are of the already familiar type of 

 descriptive geography which this series illustrates. In 

 "Derbyshire," Mr. Arnold-Bemrose exemplifies one of 

 the best features of the series. He tells the storv 

 of the rocks, and shows the relation between these 

 and the surface features, the climate, and the occupa- 

 tions of the people. His facts range from the Der- 

 went Valley water scheme to the life of early man in 

 these islands as inferred from the deposits in the 

 caverns. In the other volumes, the authors deal with 

 the coastal features of the counties and with the 

 changes in the outline of the coast due to sea encroach- 

 ments. These books are storehouses of facts of manv 

 kinds, and will be useful as reference books in school 

 .'ind other libraries. It may be urged that both in 

 the text and in the appendix the statistics should be 

 average values for a series of recent years. 



Mr. Webb's "Asia" (8) is systematic but not re- 

 gional ; for example, the existence of the Thar desert 

 is explained out of all connection with the desert belt 

 immediately to the west; again, in the case of Japan, 

 the large proportion of the country which is forested 

 is ignored, and emphasis is laid upon the growth of 

 rice, " for which the climate is specially suitable," and 

 tea. B. C. \V. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 



Catdlogo Sistemdtico y Descriptivo de las Aves de 

 la Republica Argentina. By Roberto Dabbene. 

 Tomo Primero. Anales Museo Nacional dc Buenos 

 Aires, serie 3, vol xi., pp xiv + 513 + map. (Buenos 

 Aires : igio.) 



In this work, of which the present portion occupies 

 the whole of the serial volume in which it appears, 

 the author proposes to (Jo for the birds of Argentina 

 that which Mr. Ridgway is accomplishing for those 

 of North and Central America. To a great extent the 

 two works will, when completed, cover the whole of 

 the South American avifauna, for, owing to the im- 

 NO. 2136, VOL. 84] 



perfect information with regard to the zoology of 

 the outlying provinces of the Argentine Republic, Dr. 

 Dabbene has felt himself compelled to include in his 

 catalogue the birds of the south of Brazil, Bolivia, and 

 Paraguay, and of the frontier districts of Chile and 

 Uruguay. 



The author has in the main followed the classifica- 

 tion adopted in the British Museum " Hand-list of 

 Birds," although for the Passerines he had to relv 

 on the Museum "Catalogue," as the last part of the 

 former work did not reach him in time to be used. 

 This is a pity, as Dr. Sharpe made certain amend- 

 ments in the arrangement of the orders which might 

 have been advantageously followed. The present 

 volume commences with a general account of the 

 structure of birds, illustrated with text-figures, which, 

 although somewhat crude, serve their purpose well, 

 the whole account being well up to date. Ending with 

 a bibliography, this section is followed by one on the 

 distribution of Argentine birds, which is perhaps the 

 most important part of the whole volume ; the geo- 

 graphical ranges of the various species being shown in 

 tabular form. The volume concludes with a somewhat 

 heavy list of addenda and corrigenda (in addition to 

 nn extensive list of errata in the preliminary portion), 

 followed bv several copious indexes. The systematic 

 part of the work will, it may be presumed, commence 

 in the next volume, and will afford a better criterion 

 for testing the value of the undertaking than is 

 afforded by the one in hand. R. L. 



Land and Fresh-water Mollusca of India, &^c. By 

 Lieut. -Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen. Vol. ii., part xi. 

 Pp. 23Q-310; cxviii-cxxxii. plates. (London: Tay- 

 lor and Francis, 19 10.) 

 Malacologists will gladly welcome a further instal- 

 ment, of this valuable work from the pen of that nestor 

 of Indian conchology, Col. Godwin-Austen. Like the 

 previous part (Nature, vol. Ixxvi., 1907, p. 244), this 

 contains further descriptions of forms, some of them 

 new, belonging to the families Zonitidas and Endo- 

 dontidas. 



In 1907, as we pointed out, the author transferred 

 the genera Austenia, Girasia, and Cryptosoma from 

 the Heliocarioninee to the Macrochlamyinae. Next 

 year, in the " Fauna of India : Mollusca," and now 

 again in the part under notice, these genera reappear 

 in their old position. These changing views are not 

 so much to be wondered at when the extreme difficulty 

 of reducing this complex and puzzling group to order 

 is taken into consideration. Their classification de- 

 pends on anatomical differences which are by no means 

 so well defined by nature as one could desire. The 

 apparent introduction, however, of one genus into two 

 subfamilies is due to an unfortunate misprint on p. 272, 

 where Austenia appears for Euaustenia. 



.\\\ the Endodontida; described belong to the genus 

 Pupisoma, comprising forms included by the early 

 writers in the genus Pupa. 



A reference to the Mauritian species of Macrochlamys 

 (Proc. Malac. Soc, vol. vi., 1905, p. 320), which the 

 author now refers to M. renitens, Morelet, concludes 

 the number. 



The plates, which are faithful reproductions of the 

 author's vigorous and effective drawings, call as such 

 for commendation. 



]ach's hisects. Bv Edward Selous. With forty-four 

 illustrations by' J. A. Shepherd. Pp. xiii4-379. 

 (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 6jr. 

 All we need say about this book is that Jack and his 

 sister fall asleep over a book of natural historv, and 

 dream that they are talking to the insects, &c., to 

 which it relates. 



