August 19, 1909] 



NA TURE 



217 



of the CromeriidcE. Finally, it may be pointed out 

 that in the definition of the Cladistia the item 

 " nostrils on upper surface of snout " is true of all 

 the fringe-finned group, while in the definition of the 

 Teleostei the statement that the supports of paired 

 fins are dermal bones, and not endoskeletal elements, 

 surely seems to stand in need of revision. 



The volume is illustrated with a number of text- 

 figures, for the most part of excellent execution, 

 although some of these — apparently on account of the 

 figures having been photographed from lithographs 

 — are not printed so clearly as is desirable. 



Mr. Boulenger and the trustees are to be congratu- 

 lated on the issue of this valuable volume. 



(2) Turning to the fishes of Illinois, it has first to 

 be mentioned that the account of these by Messrs. 

 Forbes and Richardson occupies a volume of 

 cxxxi-l-387 pages of text, this being accompanied by 

 an atlas showing the distribution of each species in 

 the State. .We learn From the introduction that the 

 collections and field observations upon which this 

 elaborate monograph are based were commenced so 

 long ago as 1876, and continued, at somewhat ir- 

 regular intervals, down to 1903. The establishment 

 of a biological station in 1894 on the Illinois River at 

 Havana first rendered it practicable to introduce exact 

 methods of study and observation, such as had pre- 

 viously been hnpossible, and at the same time enabled 

 the field-work to be conducted with greater regularity 

 and continuity. The quantitative method of investi- 

 gation, which yielded such good results in the case 

 of the plankton, proved equally successful when 

 applied to ichthyology. 



In addition to numerous uncoloured illustrations in 

 the form of both plates and text-figures, the volume 

 contains a large number of coloured plates of Illinois 

 fishes, which are admirable examples of modern colour- 

 printing, and present life-like portraits of the species 

 they portray. The monograph may, indeed, be re- 

 garded as a first-rate specimen of the thoroughness and 

 completeness with which biological work is nowadays 

 carried on in the United States, and of the excellent 

 style in which the results are presented to the public. 



The volume commences with an elaborate account of 

 the topography and hydrography of Illinois, which is 

 divided into a north-western unglaciated area, the 

 areas of the lowan and Illinoisian drift, the area of 

 the Wisconsin drift, and the unglaciated southern area. 

 This is followed by an equally full account of the 

 riv-er-systems of the State, after which we are fur- 

 nished with notes on the fisheries of Illinois. All this 

 occupies what may be termed the introductory portion 

 of the volume, paged in Roman numerals, while the 

 remainder is devoted to systematic work. 



A total of 150 different species of fishes are recog- 

 nised in Illinois. In the absence of geographical 

 barriers to their dispersal, the causes influencing their 

 distribution appear to be climatic, geological, and 

 ecological. Geological limitations are indicated in the 

 southern portion of the State by the fact that the area 

 covered by the Illinoisian lower glaciation is inhabited 

 by a certain number of species to the exclusion of 

 others. An interesting fact in distribution is afforded 

 by the existence " of a marked difference in prefer- 

 NO. 2077, VOL. 81] 



ence of situation between nearly related species in- 

 habiting the same area, the effect of which is to break 

 the force of a competition between these species such 

 as would prevail if they were similarly distributed 

 ecologically as well as geographically. Closely related 

 species are, as a consequence, often found much less 

 frequently associated in their common territory than 

 cither is with widely unlike species of the same geo- 

 graphical range." 



The Illinois fishes include the remarkable spoon- 

 beaked sturgeon (Polyodon), locally known as paddle- 

 fish, and now valued both for its flesh and as a source 

 of caviare; and likewise true sturgeons, referable to 

 the typical genus, and to the two exclusively American 

 genera Scaphirhynchus and Parascaphirhynchus. The 

 most interesting of these is the white sturgeon (P. 

 albiis), which appears to be a very rare species, repre- 

 sented only by about one specimen out of every three 

 hundred examples of the common shovel-nosed S. 

 ptatyrhynchus. Gar-pike and bow-fins form other ex- 

 clusively American types among the Illinois fauna, and 

 a large number of the genera of " white fish " are 

 likewise solely American. The European perch is, 

 however, represented by a nearly related species, and 

 the same is the case with the bream ; but one of the 

 pikes of Illinois is inseparable from the well-known 

 British fish. The authors of this monograph are to 

 be congratulated on having made such an important 

 contribution to the geographical study of fishes. 



(3) Congratulations are likewise due to Dr. Giinther 

 on the completion of his famous work on the fishes of 

 the South Seas collected for the founders of the 

 Godeffroy Museum at Hamburg. This museum, we 

 may remind our readers, was established by the 

 Messrs. Godeffroy, the well-known Hamburg mer- 

 chants, for the reception of the natural specimens col- 

 lected by the officers of their vessels, and Dr. Giinther 

 accepted the task of describing the fishes, on the con- 

 dition, we beheve, that a selection of specimens, in- 

 cluding all types, should be given to the British 

 Museum. The portions of the work previously pub- 

 lished were issued between 1873 and i88ij but for 

 financial reasons the publication came to an end in the 

 latter year. Now, through the generosity of Dr. W. 

 Martin von Godeffroy, the means of completing the 

 work have been provided, and Dr. Giinther has, for- 

 tunately, been enabled to bring his long-delayed task 

 to a successful conclusion. It should be added that a 

 number of coloured illustrations of the Godeffroy fish 

 collection were prepared by Andrew Garrett, and from 

 these some of the beautifully coloured plates accom- 

 panving the present volume have been reproduced. 



Since the issue of the preceding part of the work 

 great advances have been made in our knowledge of 

 the fishes of the South Seas, more especially as regards 

 those of the Sandwich and certain other islands; and 

 to correlate this new work with the material in hand 

 required a large amount of investigation. Fortu- 

 nately, this work could be most effectively done at the 

 British Museum, where a large series of the Godeffroy 

 fishes are preserved, and where also large collections 

 of fishes from the Indian Ocean are available for com- 

 parison with those from the South Seas. The result 

 of these investigations and comparisons has been to 



