NA TURE 



{Dec. 9, 1886 



descriptions of structures which might be improved in 

 another edition, so as to mal-ce the meaning clearer to the 

 student ; as an example of this, the history of the deve- 

 lopment of hair may be mentioned. The brevity of some 

 of the descriptions is, as the authors state, to some extent 

 made up for by the number of woodcuts, but in some 

 cases we think it would have been well had a few lines 

 more been added, even had it been necessary to curtail 

 some of the small print ; thus on the first page surely it 

 would have been well to have devoted a little more space 

 to explaining what is meant by the words " ontogeny " and 

 " phylogeny," terms which are constantly referred to 

 throughout the work. It is true that this is also a fault 

 of the original German edition, but as the translator has 

 not professed to adhere strictly to the German text this 

 is a liberty which he might have taken. 



We regret to see the words ecto-, tneso-, and endoderm 

 used by Prof. Wiedersheim in the original German 

 changed to epi-, meso-, and hypoblast in the English 

 edition, as we consider the terms used by German and 

 other Continental morphologists preferable to those em- 

 ployed by many English writers. We also traverse the 

 statement in the footnote, presumably Mr. Parker's, that 

 the former terms "are applied to the corresponding 

 layers in the adult animal." The terms are respectively 

 synonymous when applied to vertebrates ; the skeleton 

 or muscular system of a rabbit is not spoken of as its 

 mesoderm, but as being of mesodermic or mesoblastic 

 origin. 



In describing the homologies of the carpus and tarsus, 

 we quite approve of the position the authors have taken 

 with regard to a subject of much controversy on which 

 further investigations may throw more light, but we think 

 in the general considerations regarding the derivation of 

 hmbs from fins the history of the evolutionary changes 

 which have taken place is stated much more definitely 

 than the state of our knowledge justifies. That the theory 

 with which Prof Wiedersheim's name is connected should 

 be brought prominently forward was to have been expected 

 but no reference is made to other views, such as those of 

 Gegenbaur and Gotte, which, in the uncertain state of our 

 knowledge of the subject, might have been expected. We 

 notice that the pentadactyle form of Equus found by 

 Marsh has been omitted in the illustrations of the ancestral 

 forms of the horse's foot, and referred to only doubtfully 

 in the text. 



In the section on organs of circulation, the heart and 

 its vessels are excellently described, and the introduction 

 occasionally of coloured illustrations makes the subject as 

 clear as could be desired, but the description of the for- 

 mation of the circulation in the liver and the modifica- 

 tions of the trunk vessels which have occurred in the 

 evolution of the higher from the lower vertebrates, is very 

 short and meagre. 



The criticisms which we have passed, however, are not 

 made with the view of finding fault with an excellent and 

 creditable work, but are expressed in the hope that in 

 future editions it may be made more useful for the 

 purpose for which it is intended. 



In conclusion, we heartily thank Mr. Parker for intro- 

 ducing to English students a work which we are confident 

 will prove a great assistance to them in their studies, and 

 by perusal of which they will be enabled to understand 



the anatoiiy of man in a much more comprehensive 

 manner than they could from a study of human anatomy 

 alone. J. G. G. 



SCIENCE IN NORWAY 

 Nyt Magazin for Naturvldenskabenie. " New Journal 

 of Natural Science." (Christiania, 1 886.) 



THE four volumes of this admirable publication which 

 have been sent to us by the Norwegian publisher;, 

 include the twelve numbers printed since 1882, and thus 

 complete the third series of the magazine, which, not- 

 withstanding its title of " New," is the oldest Norwegian 

 publication of its kind. 



The subjects treated of in its pages belong, with few 

 exceptions, to the general natural history of Norway, in 

 which department special attention is due to Herr 

 Leonard Stejneger's paper on the " Ornithology of 

 Western Norway," as well as to the various interesting 

 contributions of Dr. Robert Collett. To the latter 

 eminent naturalist, well known for his able work " On 

 the Fishes of Norway " (1874), the magazine is indebted 

 for several communications regarding the number and 

 distribution of various species of fishes, first observed in 

 Norway between iS/g and 1833, while in his papers on 

 the character and species of mammals indigenous to 

 Norway, he has contributed much useful information in 

 reference to the Norwegian beaver {Castor fiber). From 

 the author's observations, it would appear that the injury 

 done to the forests by these animals in bringing down 

 trees for the construction of their huts in no way justifies 

 the indiscriminate destruction of the beaver, which had 

 long been allowed to go on unchecked in Norway. This 

 view Ins of late been so generally accepted that the 

 Norwegian Government have been induced to appoint a 

 close time of nine months in the year, during which the 

 shooting or trapping of the beaver is legally prohibited. 

 In special cases, and in certain districts, the local magis- 

 trates may even extend this period to ten years if they 

 see reason to apprehend the extermination of the animal. 



Norwegian geology and mineralogy are well represented 

 in these volumes. Dr. Kjerulf having added to his labours 

 of an editor those of a diligent contributor, and besides 

 several short papers on the finer mineralogical specimens 

 derived from the Storvarts and other important Nor- 

 wegian mines — a subject which is also well treated by 

 Herrn Olsen, Miinster, and Knudsen — he has enriched the 

 Journal with interesting monographs on the local geology 

 of the country, including notices of the dislocations 

 observable in the Christiania valley ; the character of the 

 formations at Mjosen-lake which have been brought to 

 light through recent railway-cuttings ; and the inclina- 

 tion of the principal lodes on Ekersund. Dr. Hans 

 Reusch describes at length the fall of meteors observed 

 at Vaage in Tysne Island on May 20, 1S84, giving useful 

 tables of meteoric falls, whose dates are well attested, 

 between 17S4 and 1SS4. Besides various other papers, 

 Dr. Reusch contributes some interesting geological 

 notices of the districts of Christiania, Valders, and 

 Viksnes, and considers at some length the evidence 

 afforded by the fjelds of Western Norway, of the duration 

 of the Ice age, and the local extension of glacial action in 

 Norway. 



