i63 



NA TURE 



{.Dc 



1880 



place in the annals of the class referred to ; but it is to 

 the brothers Koch, Meinert, and the Italians Fanzagoand 

 Fedrizzi, with the Bohemian naturalist Rosicky, and 

 some few other writers of less importance, that we have 

 had to look in recent times for anything approaching 

 serious or continued work upon these creatures. In 

 America, Wood and A. S. Packard, jun., have also done 

 good service. The writer of the book now under notice 

 (Professor of Natural Sciences in the Imperial Franz- 

 Joseph Gymnasium at Vienna) has by this sterling 

 treatise at once assumed a place in the front rank of 

 authorities. We are not aware of any prior writings of 

 his on the subject, beyond one or two of trifling local 

 interest ; but, from his five years' study and collection of 

 material in various parts of Austria and in Western 

 Hungary, it is clear that he is qualified for the task of 

 monographing the species of his country, especially as 

 he has examined nearly all the exponents in Austrian 

 collections and museums. As he says, no work on the 

 Myriopoda of Europe, or even of Germany and the 

 Austro-Hungarian Empire, exists ; so it is to be hoped 

 that the present instalment towards such a desideratum 

 may be from time to time succeeded by others of more 

 e.ctended area. 



As regards the preparation, &c., of specimens. Dr. 

 Latzel recommends the use of small well-corked glass 

 tubes, containing spirits of wine. Pinned examples are 

 of no use. 



Adopting the Myriopoda as a separate class (Packard 

 seems alone nowadays in uniting them with the Insccta), 

 the following classification is proposed : Orders I. 

 Chilopoda; II. Symphyla, Ryder (for the Scolo- 

 pcndrcllida); III. DiPLOPODA, with sub-orders Chi/o- 

 gnatha, Colobognatha (for the Polyzoniido'), and Hctcro- 

 gnatha (for the Pauropodida-); IV. MALACOPODA {Peri- 

 patidcr). 



The present part discusses the Chilopoda only, the 

 flat centipedes, with large sternum, and whose first pair 

 of thoracic feet is transformed into foot-jaws. The com- 

 mon thin yellow Ccophilus, which sometimes gives out a 

 phosphoric light, is a type of the order. Thirty-one 

 genera are recognised, whereof fifteen are European, one 

 American {Notiphilides), and one European {Stiginato- 

 gastc?-) being described as new, and Opisthanega, Wood, 

 renamed Megopisthus. Sixty-seven Austrian species are 

 described {Lithobius, the largest, with thirty-seven), 

 including many new ones. 



It is not within our scope to analyse the specific charac- 

 ters of such a work; Dr. Latzel seems to have performed 

 his task conscientiously and exhaustively, giving the 

 varied stages of development in each case where known 

 ("juvenis," " adolescens," " pullus," and "fetus"), and 

 combining biological and anatomical aspects with the 

 purely descriptive accounts. 



The Myriopoda have always afforded material for the 

 comparative anatomist, as evidenced quite recently by 

 MacLeod's researches upon the poison-bearing glands 

 of various Chilopods (in the Bulletin of the Belgian 

 Academy of Sciences, 2nd series, vol. xlv. p. 781 et scq.), 

 and Voges's scheme for the classification of Tracheata 

 (in Siebold and l\.6\X\ktt's Zeitschri/t fiir ■wissenscha/i- 

 lische Zoologie, vol. xxxi. p. 143), &c. Dr. Latxel recognises 

 the importance of this element, and gives some remark- 



ably well-executed lithographs (from his own designs) 

 of such organs as are of general morphological impor- 

 tance, in addition to details illustrative of specific struc- 

 ture. Were it not for the general excellence of Conti- 

 nental work in such matters, we should congratulate 

 Messrs. Holder upon the result of their part in this 

 matter. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Die Ethitographisch-Anihropologische Abtheilung des 

 Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg. Ein Bcitrag zur 

 Kunde der Siidsee-Volker. Von J. D. E. Schmeltz 

 und Dr. med. R. Krause. (Hamburg : L. Friederichsen 

 and Co. 18S1.) 



This catalogue of the anthropological section "of the 

 Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg is a model of its kind, 

 and from the exhaustive manner in which it is treated 

 the publishers are quite justified in calling the publication 

 as they do in their prospectus a " Handbook of Ethno- 

 graphy and Ethnology of the South Sea Tribes." The 

 Godeffroy collection is probably unique and unrivalled as 

 representing the area to which it is confined, and is 

 another example of what private munificence can accom- 

 plish for scientific ends ; and though the great merchant 

 house may no longer have their collectors scattered 

 throughout the South Seas, the town of Hamburg now 

 possesses by their exertions the anthropological material 

 which this somewhat bulky volume of 6S7 pages with 

 46 plates is found not too large to enumerate. However, 

 this catalogue is not merely an enumeration, but contains 

 much valuable geographical information, and some most 

 useful bibliographical notes, which, in the present absence 

 of any anthropological record compiled in the method 

 and way of our zoological work, is, if not perfect, much to 

 be commended, and not too critically received. The 

 .arrangement is geographical, and therefore etlmological 

 in its true sense, as followed in most large museums, the 

 Pitt-Rivers collection being of course a brilliant excep- 

 tion, which is rather designed to exhibit evolution in 

 culture. 



The first part, " Ethnographische Abtheilung," is written 

 by Dr. Schmeltz, and naturally occupies the largest por- 

 tion of the volun'ie. AustraUa is treated first, and then 

 "Oceanien," commencing at New Guinea and termi- 

 nating with the Sandwich Isles, including not only so 

 large and well known an area as New Zealand, but also 

 amongst others the smaller and much less known 

 Exchequer Isles and Futuna. Of the last-named we are 

 told incidentally that the fauna and flora is allied to that 

 of Samoa. The Gilbert, Marshall, and Caroline Islands 

 are then dealt with, the last very fully. This ethno- 

 graphical portion concludes with Alaska and a few other 

 various localities, thus showing that in the most special 

 of museums the usual few outside elements obtrude. 



The second part, " Anthropologische Abtheilung," is 

 the joint production of Messrs. Schmeltz and Krause, 

 the first author treating the photographs and original 

 drawings, whilst Dr. Krause enumerates and describes 

 the osteological specimens. The cranial measurements 

 are most desired by physical anthropologists, and it is to 

 be hoped that some of our own provincial museums 

 which are still behind in that respect, though possibly 

 containing but few crania, will yet, where such can be 

 authentically localised, have the same at once properly 

 measured, and for a method, the lately-published Cata- 

 logue by Prof. Flower will supply all that anthropological 

 science requires. Such Catalogues as the one under 

 notice, taken with those of Prof. Flower and General Pitt- 

 Rivers, are in themselves real manuals of anthropology. 



W. L. D. 



