Revieics — A Neio Siberian Manwiot/i. 361 



the plants which possess five stamens were thrown into a group 

 fonnded on this one character, that group would not be a natural 

 one, since it would include a large number of genera in no way 

 related to one another. 



IV. — A Method for the Investigation of Fossils by" Sekial 

 Sections. By W. J. Sollas, D.Sc, LL.D., F.E.S., Professor of 

 Geology and PalEeontology in the Universitj' of Oxford. - 



MECHANICAL difficulties preclude the study of fossils by serial 

 thin slices, but serial polished surfaces may be obtained at 

 any desired degree of proximity, and these, when the fossil and its 

 matrix offer sufficient optical contrast, serve most of the purposes 

 of thin slices. They may be photographed under the microscope, 

 so as to furnish a trustworthy and permanent record. The sections 

 may be used to obtain reconstructions of the fossil in wax. Several 

 fossils have been successfully studied in this way, such as Palao- 

 spondylus Gunni, Opliiura Egertoni, La/pwortliura Miltoni, Monograptus 

 priodon, and Fnlceodisciis ferox. The sections are obtained at regular 

 intervals, usually of 0-025 mm., by means of an apparatus designed 

 for the purpose by the Eev. Jervis Smith, M.A., Header of Mechanics 

 in the University. 



la IB "V I IE AAT S. 



I.— The Mammoth. 



(PLATE XYIII.) 



1. Bbrichtb bes Leiters der von der kaiserliohen Akademie 



DBR Wissenschaften zur Ausgrabung eines Mammuth- 

 cadavers an die Kolyma-Beresowka ausgesandten Expe- 

 dition. By Otto Hekz. pp. 38, pis. x. Imperial Academy 

 of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1902. 



2. Bodeneis vom Fluss Beresowka (Nord-ost Sibiriens). By 



I. P. Tolmatschow. Verhandl. k. russ. mineral. Ges., vol. xl, 

 pp. 415-451, pis. v-viii (1903). 



3. OSTEOLOGICAL AND OdoNTOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON OF THE MaMMOTH 



(jElefbas primigenius, Blum.) with the living Elephants 

 {E. iNDicus, Linn., and E. africanus, 'Q'Lvn.) [in Eussian]. 

 By W. Salensky. pp. 124, pis. xxv. Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1903. 



WHEN it was announced two years ago that the St. Petersburg 

 Academy of Sciences had despatched an expedition to Siberia 

 to obtain a newly discovered Mammoth, great interest was aroused. 

 Previous attempts to recover a complete carcase had always ended in 

 failure, owing to the difficulty of reaching any reported specimen in 

 good time. On this occasion, however, it was hoped that the 

 facilities afforded by the new trans-Siberian railway and the 

 modern appliances of science would result in success, and at any 



1 Abstract of a paper read before the Royal Society of London, June 11th, 1903. 



