July 25, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



91 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Indigenous Land Mammals of Porto Rico, 

 Living and Extinct, Memoirs of the Amer- 

 ican Museum, oi Natural History, N. S., 

 n., Pt. II., October, 1918. By H. E. 

 Anthony. 



Captain Anthony has been very fortunate 

 in being able to study a very interesting phase 

 of mammalian evolution; the borderline be- 

 tween the extinct and the recent. This fact 

 makes his excellent memoir extremely inter- 

 esting to students of vertebrate evolution. 

 The work was attempted as a phase of an 

 extensive survey of Porto Rico, covering the 

 recent fauna and flora, the authropology and 

 archeology; Captain Anthony confining his 

 attention to the mammals. Most of the 

 .fossil forms are of Pleistocene age, though 

 their nature is such as to lead Dr. Matthew to 

 suggest to the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety^ that Porto Eico and its adjacent islands 

 have not been in direct communication with 

 the mainland since the early Pliocene. The 

 great body of the monograph, illustrated by 55 

 text figures and 76 photographic plates, is 

 devoted to the systematic descriptions of the 

 forms, chiefly bats. A few amphibian and 

 reptilian bones were also discovered but these 

 have not been discussed. The reptilian bones 

 seem to be lizards of the general type of 

 Amhlyrhynchus, because of the presence of 

 epiphyses. Anthony concludes: 



Judging from the character of the ancient mam- 

 malia, it (the fauna) must have reached the present 

 islands at approximately some time in the period 

 from the Oligoeene to the end of the Miocene. In 

 the Miocene the fauna of South America was of 

 very much the same general character as that of 

 the ancient island fauna and in the light of pres- 

 ent-day knowledge of South American paleontol- 

 ogy the relationships of most of the island mam- 

 mals undoubtedly run back to the South Ameri- 

 can Miocene formations. 



The presence of two large ground sloths, 

 Acratocniis odontrigonus and A. major which 

 the author compares with South American 

 Hapalops and Eucholwops is an indication of 

 the relationship of the early South American 

 faima with that of Porto Pico. The osteology 



1 Science, N. S., XLIX., 546, 1919. 



of these two ground sloths, so far as known, is 

 carefully illustrated and described. 



College or Medicine, 

 Univeesity op Illinois, 

 Chicago 



EOY L. MOODIE 



The Boys' Booh of Chemistry. A Simple Ex- 

 planation of Up-to-date Chemistry. To- 

 gether with Many Easily Made Experi- 

 ments. By Charles Ramsay Clarke. N"ew 

 York, E. P. Dutton & Company. 1918. 

 It is so obviously desirable that the youth 

 of to-day should take a keen interest in chem- 

 ical science, to which such prominence has 

 been given in the war-time activities that one 

 would welcome the appearance of a satisfac- 

 tory book for boys' use. Unfortunately " The 

 Boys' Book of Chemistry" is not only a dis- 

 appointment, but it is one of the most perni- 

 cious little volumes that has appeared for a 

 long time. The chemical statements are ab- 

 solutely wrong in a considerable number of 

 instances and misleading in many more, and 

 the book is subject to severe criticism both as 

 to its English and the arrangement of its sub- 

 ject matter. The degree of judgment shown 

 in the selection of material is perhaps suffi- 

 ciently indicated by the statement that in the 

 chapter entitled Synthetic Chemistry for Be- 

 ginners the first four syntheses are those of 

 camphor, indigo, tannin and rubber; and these 

 are given in mere outline form which is prac- 

 tically valueless to the reader, boy or man. At 

 a time when books which will lead to an intelli- 

 gent interest in chemistry are so desirable, it 

 is unfortunate! that this volume shotJd appear 

 to the confusion of its readers. 



H. P. Talbot 



NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 

 CLIMATOLOGY 



METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TRANSATLAN- 

 TIC FLIGHT 



During the early preparations for the trans- 

 Atlantic flight most of the discussion centered 

 on the machines themselves, but when it be- 

 came evident that airplanes and dirigibles 

 could stay in the air long enough to accom- 



