568 Revieivs — EncychpcBdia Britannica. 



IcHTHTOLOGY, by Albert Gunther. In tbis article much more 

 attention has been paid to fossil fishes than in the article in the 

 earlier volume. Still, in a publication intended to afford the latest 

 information on the subject more might have been gathered from 

 the recent work of palseichthyologists. The classification given is 

 open to modification and does not seem in accordance with modern 

 views. 



Birds, by H. Gadow. A valuable article, which discusses the 

 various classifications, and terminates as usual in a new classification 

 of the author's own. Gives a summary of recent work in palaso- 

 zoology, and emphasizes the futility of attempting to derive birds from 

 the Pterosauria, as equal to that of attempting to derive them from 

 the Dinosauria. 



Cuttle-fish, by J. P. Blake. Writing on Cuttle-fish, Mr. Blake 

 contrives to run the gamut of all the Cephalopoda, apparently with 

 the object of explaining to the ignorant what is the exact relation 

 of Sepia officinalis to the rest of the universe. Incidentally he 

 coquettes dangerously with Steinmann's speculation that the Octopoda 

 are the descendants of the Ammonites, a view which, if ever accepted 

 by anyone beyond its author, has surely been disproved by the 

 subsequent observations of Appellof. It is also remarkable that 

 the author of this article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica should not 

 yet have satisfied himself as to the homologies of the cuttle-bone. 



Earth, Figure of. Mr. E. Eadau, of Paris, writing nominally 

 on " The Figure of the Earth," gives an account of past and future 

 (chiefly future) expeditions to measure arcs. He prefers the 

 ellipsoid of revolution as the spheroid of reference, but says little 

 as to the manner or extent of difiBrence therefrom displayed by the 

 geoid, and says nothing about the tetrahedral theory so much boomed 

 of late. 



Coal, by H. Bauerman. Chiefly concerns mining. A sketch of 

 the origin of coal is given, but the reader had better consult 

 Seward's papers in " Science Progress," 1894, and his " Fossil 

 Plants," 1898. 



Alps, by T. G. Bonney. Commences with a tribute to the 

 excellence of the article on Alps in the Encyclopsedia itself. 

 Then plunges into a brilliant survey of the whole subject. The 

 bibliography includes Dr. Heim. 



Brachiopoda, by A. E. Shipley. Mr. Shipley treats Brachiopoda 

 chiefly from the standpoint of the anatomist, and gives a useful 

 summary of the work of Blochmann and others. He does, however, 

 discuss the aperture for the peduncle, and the classification based on 

 the various modes of its closure. " What is a Brachiopod ? " is an 

 old question. Mr. Shipley is not to be caught. They are an 

 " isolated group " ; yet they " seem to belong to that class of animals 

 which commences life as a larva with three segments " ; but, lest 

 this should be too warm a scent, he adds that " trisegmented larvae 

 have been found now in several of the larger groups." 



