I20 



NATURE 



\Pec. 1 8, 1873 



GARRETT'S FISHES OF THE PACIFIC 

 AndrciD Garrctfs Fischc der Siidsec bescliriebcn iind rcdi- 

 girt. Von Albert C. L. G. Giinther, Heft i. (Hamburg : 

 L. Friederichsen cS: Co., 1873.) 



THE house of Hr. Cesar Godeffroy & Co. of Hamburg 

 have for several years employed scientific collectors 

 in various parts of the Pacific to prepare and send home 

 specimens of natural history. These have been stored up 

 at Hamburg, in what is now a well-known scientific insti- 

 tution, the " Museum Godeffroy," under the care of an 

 active superintendent, whose services have been engaged 

 to take charge of and arrange the various objects thus ac- 

 cumulated. But not content with thus bringing the rari- 

 ties of the Pacific within the grasp of European naturalists, 

 Herr Godeffroy has obtained the assistance of some of 

 the best known workers in Science for examination of 

 these materials. The extensive collections of birds made 

 for him by Dr. Edward Gnitife were submitted to the 

 well-known ornithologists Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub of 

 Bremen, and formed the basis of their excellent work on 

 the "Birds of Central Polynesia," published a few years 

 since. For the working out of the Polynesian Fishes, of 

 which we believe, Herr Godeftroy's collection is still more 

 complete, the co-operation of Dr. Giinther of our National 

 Museum, the most distinguished of living ichthyologists, 

 has been obtained, and the book now before us contains 

 the first-fruits of Dr. Giinther's labours. 



The brilliant colours which adorn many of the Poly- 

 nesian fishes have been well known to travellers in those 

 regions since the days of Cook, and have been frequently 

 described in lively terms. Unfortunately, however, these 

 colours entirely disappear in fishes preserved in spirit 

 after the ordinary fasliion, so that their beauty can only 

 be appreciated by visitors to the distant seas which they 

 inhabit. In order to exhibit these colours in the present 

 work, Herr Godeffroy has acquired a large series of 

 drawings, taken from living specimens, by Mr. Andrew 

 Garrett, who has been many years resident in the Sand- 

 wich and Society Islands, and in otlier parts of Polynesia. 

 Under these circumstances we may well anticipate the 

 production of a first-rate work, more especially as the ser- 

 vices of the unrivalled lithographic artist, Mr. G. H. 

 Ford, have been secured to put the drawings on the 

 stones. 



Dr. Giinther commences his work in systematic order 

 with the Serranida^, of whicli numerous brightly coloured 

 forms inhabit the various Archipelagoes of the Pacific. 

 Twenty splendid plates illustrate the letterpress, and it is 

 only wonderful how they can be produced at so small a 

 cost. Nine similar parts will complete the work, which 

 bids fair to become one of the most perfect icthyological 

 monographs ever issued. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Manual oj Coiiipaia/ivc A/ia/omy and Physiology. By 

 S. M. Bradley, F.R.C.S. Second Edition. (Man- 

 chester : Cornish ; London : Simpkin, Marshall and Co.) 

 Encouraged by the success of an earlier and much 

 smaller edition of this work, the author has entirely re- 

 written the new one. In so doing, we think that he could 

 not have made a greater mistake, as the small size of the 



original precluded the introduction of detail with which 

 he is not acquainted, and so prevented his exposing his 

 ignorance to the world at large. The impression which 

 remains after the perusal of a few pages is, that the 

 author, after reading rapidly through some one of the 

 standard text-books on Zoology, wrote down his im- 

 pressions as far as his memory served him. Faults 

 of omission are not uncommon in text-books, especially 

 when they are written by those who are not practically 

 acquainted with their subject, but faults of commission 

 are, fortunately, much less common. In the work before 

 us there are several of the former, and they cannot all be 

 laid down to want of space ; for in the case of the Myria- 

 poda, respecting the peculiarities of the main divisions 

 of which the position of the legs is not referred to, two- 

 thirds of the page on which they should have been found 

 is left blank before the commencement of the following 

 chapter. The faults of commission are so numerous 

 that they admit of easy classification. There are those 

 of sheer carelessness from inattentive reading, otherwise, 

 how is it that \ve are told that the Dugong has six cenical 

 vertebra;, and that the I ragitlina, or Musk Deer (!) 

 have all the tarsal bones anchylosed. Others arise from 

 a want of power to realise the meaning of the ordinary 

 descriptions of well-known anatomical facts, as when it 

 is indicated that the ventricles of the Crocodile's heart 

 are not completely separated, and the marsupium, or 

 pouch of the female Kangaroo in the male is everted, and 

 supports the penis. Absolute and inexcusable errors it 

 is difficult to explain, but among such we are told that the 

 Nummulites are Cephalopoda ; the Marsipobranchii have 

 more than one nasal sac ; that in the Lepidosiren the 

 nasal canals are not open .at both ends, and the vertebraj 

 are ossified ; and that in the Bear the clavicles are more 

 developed than in other Carnivora, when they are in 

 reality absent altogether. Peculiarities found in one 

 division are omitted with regard to them, and referred to 

 others entirely different, as when it is stated that among 

 the Marsupialia " each oviduct in the female leads into a 

 perfectly distinct uterus, which opens into a separate 

 vagina, which is also the passage of the urine," and that 

 in the male the vasa deferentia " open into a cloaca com- 

 mon to the urinary and generative secretions." These 

 remarks apply to the Monotremata well enough, how is it 

 they are omitted in speaking of them, and stated of thcii 

 allies, which in these respects are quite differently con- 

 structed. We rarely remember to have seen a work so 

 carelessly undertaken, and by so incompetent an author. 



Seventeenth Half- Yearly -Report of the Marlborough 

 College Natural History Society for the Half- Year 

 ending Midsummer, i?iyT,. (Marlborough: Perkins.) 

 Although the tone of the Preface to this Report is not 

 quite so desponding as that of the previous one, still it 

 contains a good deal of complaint. It seems to be the 

 rule, for which we cannot see any reason, that members 

 on entering the fifth form resign their membership. Is 

 it because their schoolwork occupies all their time? or is it 

 considered beneath the dignity of a fifth-form boy to be- 

 long to such a society .'' Probably no satisfactory reason 

 could be assigned for the practice, therefore we hope it 

 may not be continued. Another discouragement to the 

 society has been the difficulty of getting papers except from 

 a very few, who, after a time, " struck work," because 

 they " felt that others ought to help in keeping up the in- 

 terest of the meetings." We think the few workers 

 would have been more likely to attain this end had they 

 continued to prepare and read papers amid all discou- 

 ragements ; by this means, we think, they would be more 

 likely " encourager les autres." We see no reason why 

 the reading of papers should not be combined with the 

 exhibition of objects and with discussions. Is not the 

 Marlborough College Society too sensitive ? From the 

 reports of the field-work done and the collections 



