454 



NA TURE 



[September 7, 1905 



No account is given of the most recent change in 

 marine engineering, namely, the adoption of the 

 steam turbine in place of reciprocating engines. The 

 success of the steam turbine in this field is already so 

 well assured that a revolution in marine engineering 

 is promised. But there are, no doubt, good reasons 

 for the omission. Experience in the use of steam 

 turbines in ships is almost confined to this country, 

 and naturally at present full information as to the 

 results, mechanical and economic, of the use of tur- 

 bines is only possessed by a few engineers, and is not 

 generally available. 



In this country we still rightly pride ourselves on 

 retaining the highest position in shipbuilding and 

 marine engineering. But, if we still do more work 

 of this kind than any other nation, and if our best 

 work is as good as any in the world, yet Dr. Bauer's 

 book should remind us that m science, experience 

 and skill, other nations now run us very close. 



THE BIRDS OF ICELAND. 

 Beitrag zitr Kenntnis der Vogelwelt Islands. By B. 

 Hantzsch. Pp. vi + 341 ; illustrated. (Berlin : 

 Friedlander and Son, 1905.) Price 12 marks. 



SINCE Iceland lies on one of the main migration 

 routes, namely, that which starts from Green- 

 land and Iceland itself, and passes by the Faeroes to 

 the British Islands, its bird-fauna is naturally of 

 special interest and importance. This is testified by 

 the appearance within a comparatively short period 

 of two works on the subject, namely, Mr. H. N. 

 Slater's " Manual of the Birds of Iceland," published 

 at Edinburgh in 1901, and the present larger and 

 more pretentious volume. In addition to the general 

 fauna, there is special interest attaching to Iceland 

 as the chief European resort in former days of the 

 gare-fowl, or great auk. The history of this lost bird 

 and the literature relating to it the author reserves for 

 a supplemental volume. Despite all that has been 

 dong by travellers and collectors, Mr. Hantzsch is of 

 opinion that our knowledge of the bird-fauna of 

 Iceland is still far from complete, much of the interior 

 of the country being difficult of access and still im- 

 perfectly explored by collectors. .Accordingly he is 

 fain to admit that the last word on the subject still 

 remains to be said. 



The volume commences with an historical survey 

 of the growth of our knowledge of Icelandic 

 ornithology, with notices of the chief explorers and 

 workers in this field of research, and a list of the 

 more important memoirs and books treating of the 

 subject. Then comes a detailed account of the 

 author's own journeys in the island for the purpose 

 of collecting specimens and personally observing the 

 birds. This is followed by an interesting description 

 of the main physical features of Iceland and the 

 neighbouring islets, such as Grimsey in the north 

 and the Westman group in the south, this being 

 illustrated with a number of reproductions of photo- 

 graphs of the scenery taken by the author himself. 

 NO. 187 1, VOL. 72] 



Special lists are given of the birds of Grimsey and 

 the Westman Islands. Changes in the bird-fauna of 

 the whole group of islands, and the general relation- 

 ships of the fauna form the subjects of two succeed- 

 ing chapters, a brief note being appended on domesti- 

 cated species. 



This completes the introductory portion of the sub- 

 ject, which occupies ninety-two pages, and the re- 

 mainder of the text is devoted to the detailed synopsis 

 of the birds. The total number of species, exclusive 

 of the great auk, recorded in the preliminary list as 

 definitely known to occur in Iceland is 120, in addition 

 to which are a few of which the right to a place 

 among the fauna is somewhat uncertain. Perhaps 

 the most striking feature of the descriptive part of 

 the work is the almost painful severity with which 

 new fashions in ornithological nomenclature are 

 followed, such appalling alliterations as Mcnila 

 merula mertila and Gallinago gallinago gallinago 

 occurring with wearisome frequency. Without re- 

 iterating his own private opinion on nomenclature 

 of this nature, which is now pretty well known, the 

 reviewer may point out that when the typical form 

 of a species is alone recorded, it is perfectly super- 

 fluous to add the terminal trinomial, Merula merula 

 and Gallinago gallinago being in such cases ap- 

 parently all that can possibly be required. 



Excellent photographs of the eggs, nests, or breed- 

 ing-haunts-of some of the rarer species serve to enliven 

 the text, and ornithologists will be greatly interested 

 in the two pictures of the eggs and callow young of 

 the great skua in their natural surroundings. The 

 work will doubtless long remain the standard 

 authority on Icelandic birds, at all events for German 

 readers. R. L. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Neue Fische und Reptilien aus der hohmischen 

 Kreideforniation. By Prof. Dr. Anton Fritsch and 

 Dr. Fr. Bayer. Pp. 34 ; plates ix. (Prague : Fr. 

 Rivnac, 1905.) 



Vertebrate fossils are not only rare, but also badly 

 preserved, in the Cretaceous rocks of Bohemia. 

 Palaeontologists must therefore admire the enthusiasm 

 of Dr. .Anton Fritsch, who continues to devote to the 

 interpretation of difficult fragments so much study as 

 is evidenced by his numerous writings on these re- 

 mains. In 1S78 he published a complete synopsis of 

 the subject as then understood. Now, with the aid 

 of Dr. Franz Bayer in the determination of fishes, 

 he again publishes an up-to-date treatise, including 

 the discoveries of the last quarter of a century. The 

 work is illustrated in Dr. Fritsch 's usual style, and a 

 few of the figures are revised drawings of specimens 

 previously described. 



Dr. Bayer's chapter on the Cretaceous fishes was 

 originally published in the Bohemian language in 

 igo2, but is now made more readily accessible in 

 German. He describes evidence of several new 

 genera and species, and concludes that in the 

 Bohemian Chalk there are more varied representatives 

 of the higher fishes than have hitherto been found 

 below the Tertiary formations. In view of the frag'- 

 meutary nature of most of the fossils,- it must be 



