278 Reviews — Guide to Paleontology. 



III. — A Guide to the Exhibition Galleries of the Depart- 

 ment of Geology and Paleontology of the British Museum 

 (Natural History), Cromwell Koad, London, S.W. Part I. 

 Fossil Mammals and Birds. With 119 Illustration and 1 Plan ; 

 103 pages, 8vo. Part II. Fossil Eeptiles, Fishes, and 

 Invertebrates. With 94 Illustrations and 1 Plan ; 109 pages, 

 8vo. Price Sixpence each Part. Printed by Order of the 

 Trustees, April, 1890/ 



THE Trustees and Officers of the British Museum have in many 

 ways shown their earnest desire to render the collections 

 under their care as useful as possible, both to students and the 

 general public. The Natural-History branch of the Museum provides 

 useful " Handbooks " and " Guides," besides more elaborate " Cata- 

 logues," and the Department of Geology and Palaeontology is well 

 furnished with such necessary means of instruction, suited both to 

 save the time of the amateur who wishes to learn what the 

 specimens in the Cases have to teach, and to direct the student 

 at once to those parts of the Collection that will serve to increase 

 his knowledge. A " Guide " to the Department was issued in 1881, 

 and the four successive editions, each illustrated and enlarged, that 

 have followed, have been well appreciated by the public, for 15,000 

 copies have been issued. Of late years many interesting and rare 

 Fossils have been added to the Collection, and "Museum Catalogues" 

 of Fossil Mammalia, Eeptilia, Amphibia, Fishes, Crustacea, Cepha- 

 lopoda, Blastoidea, Sponges, Foraminifera, and Coal-plants have 

 more particularly been prepared technically and scientifically by 

 various specialists. The new edition of the Guide-book has 

 necessarily been augmented with notices of the chief types and 

 varieties of the vertebrate animals mentioned in those Catalogues 

 and elsewhere ; and gives references to the subject-matter of such 

 Catalogues and special works as elucidate the structure and characters 

 of the Invertebrata. So much indeed has this hand-book increased 

 that it is now published in two parts, each of which is larger than 

 the former "Guide." Part I. contains 116 woodcuts and a frontis- 

 piece ; Part II. has 94 woodcuts. In the " Guide " (especially in 

 the first part), figures of recent specimens are placed near those of 

 the fossils in several instances for comparison, and to enable the 

 beginner to compare what is easily known with the more obscure and 

 often imperfect remains of extinct forms. 



If any fault can be found with regard to the number of illustra- 

 tions, it is that in some cases they appear to be excessive. Thus, in 

 treating of the order Chelonia, in pt. ii. pp. 38-41, we find a number 

 of illustrations which do not seem necessary to explain the text, 

 and, indeed, are, for the most part, not even mentioned therein. 

 The greater number of the excellent illustrations with which the 

 work is adorned have been reproduced from the recently-published 

 'Catalogues ' of Fossil Mammalia, Eeptilia. and Amphibia ; but a few, 

 such as the skull of Samotherium and the skeleton of Lariosaurus, 

 have been executed specially for the present work. We may 

 mention that the fourth part of the 'Catalogue of Fossil Eeptilia 



