66 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 211. 



useful current haud-book on the West Indies, 

 but a contribution of permanent value to the 

 literature of that part of the western hemi- 

 sphere. It is admirably printed, artistically 

 bound, amply illustrated, satisfactorily indexed, 

 and well arranged for reference, as well as for 

 consecutive reading. 



W J M. 



The Birds of Indiana. By Amos W. Butler. 



22d Report of the Department of Geology 



and Natural Resources of Indiana. 1897. 



8vo. Pp. 515-1187. 5 plates and numerous 



cuts in the text. 



Commissions for the preparation of State Nat- 

 ural History Reports so often fall into incom- 

 petent hands that all ornithologists, and par- 

 ticularly those students of birds residing in the 

 State of Indiana, may congratulate themselves 

 that a person so well qualified as Mr. Butler 

 was selected to write the work under consider- 

 ation. 



The matter relating to the birds known to 

 occur in Indiana is preceded by sections on the 

 'Indiana Bird Law,' the physiography of 

 the State (from Dryer's ' Studies in Indiana 

 Geography'), ' Peculiarities affecting Bird Dis- 

 tribution,' 'Changes in Bird- Life,' 'Destruction 

 of Birds,' 'Zoological Areas' and 'Bird Migra- 

 tion.' There is also a bibliography giving some 

 212 titles. 



This is followed by keys to the orders, fam- 

 ilies, genera and speties, and biographies of the 

 321 species recorded from Indiana, including 

 descriptions of their plumages, general and 

 local ranges, nests, eggs, times and manner of 

 occurrences and habits. The rej^ort, in fact, is 

 a complete ornithology of Indiana. 



Mr. Butler has followed the excellent plan of 

 securing the best available material, for the use 

 of which he makes ample acknowledgment. 

 Thus his keys are taken from Bidgway's and 

 Jordan's 'Manuals,' his illustrations from the 

 publications of the U. S. Biological Survey and 

 Coues's 'Key,' while the number of local ob- 

 servers quoted assures us that the work con- 

 tains all existing and desired information and 

 that it will long remain the standard authority 

 on Indiana birds. We trust, therefore, that a 

 sufiiciently large edition has been printed to 



prevent its early classification with other State 

 lists, which become ' out-of-print ' before those 

 who could make the best use of them learn of 

 their existence. 



F. M. C. 



The Butterfly Book. A Popular Guide to a Knowl- 

 edge of the Butterflies of North America. By 

 W. J. Holland. New York, Doubleday & 

 McClure Co. 1898. Imp. 8vo. Pp. xx + 

 382. 48 colored plates. 183 figures in the 

 text. Price, $3.00. 



As the secondary title indicates, this work 

 was prepared to meet a popular need. The pref- 

 ace says : " It is essentially popular in its char- 

 acter. Those who seek a more technical treat- 

 ment must resort to the writings of others.." 

 Nevertheless, it will ' have utility also for the 

 scientific student,' since ' the successful develop- 

 ment in recent months of the process of repro- 

 ducing in colors photographic representations of 

 objects has been, to a certain degree, the argu- 

 ment for the publication ' of the work. The 

 forty- eight plates have been reproduced by the 

 new process known popularly as ' three-color 

 printing,' and this is its first application so far 

 as we know — certainly on such a scale — to but- 

 terflies. It is, however, an unquestionable and 

 surprising success, destined — if the extraordi- 

 narily low price at which the book is sold be any 

 guide — to come into very general use. The rep- 

 resentation of the colors as well as of the pattern 

 outstrips all that can be done by chromolithog- 

 raphy, and has the added value of an accuracy 

 unattainable except at the high cost of the very 

 best workmanship. As the photographic method 

 employed requires the use of a screen, as in so- 

 called 'half-tone ' work, there is a certain loss 

 of vividness, but it appears to be even less than 

 is ordinarily the case with half-tones from a 

 photographic print. This may be seen by an 

 examination of the five plates of caterpillars 

 and chrysalids copied from my ' Butterflies of the 

 Eastern United States,' where direct comparison 

 is available. There are, it is true, a few, but 

 very few, unaccountable and generally very 

 slight changes in tint (as in PL 2, Fig. 20 ; PI. 

 3, Fig. 18, and PL 5, Fig. 3), and occasionally a 

 blurring, or at least a loss of sharpness, due to 

 imperfect registering, but such mishaps would 



