Nov. 4, 1869] 
NAT ORE 
17 
may meet with the success which it so well deserves. 
W. S. DALLAS 
7 pntpintenntnyo f 
1 HANNE) 
gilts 
uti uate 
Tue MERVEILLE DU Jour (Agyiopis aprilina) 
~ OUR BOOK SHELF 
Text Book of Botany—Lehrbuch der Botanik fur Gym- | 
nasien, Realschulen, &c. By Dr. Otto W. Thomé. 
1 vol. 8vo. 358 pp., with 621 woodcuts. 
(Brunswick, 1869.) 
Dr. THOME’s name is new to us. He is a teacher in 
what we may call the Upper Grammar School at Cologne. 
Because he has not published original observations it does 
not follow that he should be a bad teacher. Rather, 
Price 35. | 
indeed, this is a point in his favour; for original obser- | 
vers, unless they be men of wide grasp of mind, or of | 
great experience, are apt to ride special hobbies too far, 
and to be very unfair and crotchety. 
A cursory inspection of this book leaves a favourable 
impression. It is German, of course, and the first chapter 
is entitled Dre Zelle als Individuunt, but so far as we 
can judge it is a handy book for a beginner, and if not all 
pure milk, it does not seem very badly diluted: much | 
cream now-a-days it is hardly fair to look for. It is very 
copiously illustrated ; the cuts by no means all original, 
and not a few borrowed from this side the Channel, but 
none the less well adapted to their purpose. 1D}, 
The Retardation of the Beat of the Heart.—Das Hem- 
nwegsnervensystem des Herzens. By Adolf Bern- 
hard Meyer. (Berlin, 1869. London: Williams and 
Norgate.) 
A CRITICAL and experimental inquiry into the inhibitory | 
action of the pneumogastric nerve on the beat of the heart. 
The chief features of the experimental investigation are— 
first, the extension of the facts of inhibitionto many animals 
(chiefly reptiles) not hitherto specially examined in refer- 
ence to this point. Curiously enough, in Ayzys Zitaria 
the left pneumogastric is inert ; unfortunately Dr. Meyer 
has not worked out the cause of this singularity. Second, 
the author brings experiments to show that the effect of 
stimulation on the pneumogastric may be kept up for a very 
long time—more than an hour. In frogs the effect may 
be carried as far as complete stoppage for this time; in 
mammals as far as retardation only of the beat. M. F, 
| Exotic Lepidoptera Lepidoptera Exotica, or, Descrip- 
tions and Illustrations of Exotic Lepidoptera. By 
A. G. Butler, F.L.S., &c. (London: E. W. Janson.) 
Mr. BUTLER, who is well known as an ardent and care- 
ful student of the diurnal Lepidoptera, has undertaken, in 
conjunction with Mr. Janson as publisher, what will no 
doubt prove a very valuable and beautiful work. Many 
new species of Lepidoptera have been described—by Mr. 
Butler himself amongst others—without any figure: this 
practice is exceedingly inconvenient to those who attempt 
to identify species ; and though, as Mr. Butler observes, it 
enables those who adopt it to “call the beautiful their 
own” to a larger extent than if they had to wait for figures, 
it is nevertheless a reprehensible proceeding, and has 
afflicted the conscience of one at least who has been guilty 
of it. Mr. Butler is a very skilful artist, and evidently an 
intense admirer of the lovely colours and forms of the 
insects he deals with. Consequently it is a matter for 
congratulation that he has undertaken to make up for the 
shortcomings of past times, and intends to bring out once 
a quarter a part of his “‘ Lepidoptera Exotica,” with three 
coloured plates of new or unfigured species. In the two 
parts already issued, which are before us, the figures are 
admirably done, and very handsome ; whilst the descrip- 
tive text is concise, and in Latin in part. Some of Mr, 
Wallace’s Bornean butterflies are figured in the second 
part. ERS Le 
Physiology of the Human Voice. — Physiologie und 
Pathologie der Menschlichen Stimme. By Dr. M. J. 
Rossbach. (Wirzburg. London: Williams & Norgate.) 
A TREATISE on the physiology of the voice, intended by the 
author to be useful not only to physiologists and patholo- 
gists, but also to those engaged in singing or in teaching 
singing. A chapter on the nature and qualities of sounds, 
based on Helmholtz’ well-known work, anda short one on 
musical instruments, introduce the main topic, the physi- 
ology of the human organ of voice. There are also separate 
chapters on the vocal register, the different kinds of voice, 
and the relations of voice, speech, and song. 
