214 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 215. 



mous, next the Ostriches, since the above 

 groups have been clung to with a pertinacity 

 worthy a better cause, while the breastbone 

 of the Tinamous has too often barred them 

 from associating with their next of kin. It is 

 also gratifying to read that the likeness of 

 Hesperornis to the Ratites seems mainly to rest 

 upon the degenerate structure of the wings and 

 that it cannot be put down definitely as the an- 

 cestral form whence both grebes and divers have 

 branched off. The author might perhaps have 

 gone a little farther and said that the extreme 

 specialization of Hesperornis seems to indicate 

 that it represents one offshoot from the main 

 stem which terminated then and there. The 

 gulls are placed among the Limicohe, but the 

 auks are omitted, although this may strike 

 some as showing undue partiality, while 

 the placing of the Flamingo with the Hero- 

 diones will be commended by some and con- 

 demned by others. The balance of evidence, 

 however, including some recent observations 

 on the feathers, seems to lean towards the as- 

 sociation here given, and this, like many other 

 instances, may well serve to illustrate the diffi- 

 culties that beset the classification of birds. In 

 writing of the skull of woodpeckers the author 

 apparently accepts the validity of the ' sau- 

 rognathous ' type, but, later on, in discussing 

 the Hesperornithes, his allusions to ' the pre- 

 sumed vomers of the woodpeckers ' shows that 

 he does not feel quite convinced, and for our 

 own part we agree with Shufeldt in considering 

 the so-called vomers as purely adventitious 

 ossifications. It may be here remarked that 

 Mr. Beddard is preeminently fair in his discus- 

 sion of all matters, the pros and cons of doubt- 

 ful questions being impartially considered, the 

 book being entirely free from any didactic 

 tone. 



It would have been well in defining the groups 

 to have followed some uniform plan and, in- 

 stead of setting down characters indiscrimi- 

 nately, to have, so far as possible, given the 

 same characters, osteological, myological or 

 ceecal, in the same order. This would have 

 facilitated comparison and enabled any one to 

 form a better estimate of the value of the vari- 

 ous groups. But while we may differ from Mr. 

 Beddard in the manner of using facts, we are 



deeply indebted to him for the vast number he 

 has placed at our disposal. 



The mechanical execution of the book is ex- 

 cellent, the type clear and open, while the use 

 of black-faced type for family names and of 

 italics for anatomical characters is of great aid 

 to the reader. The table of contents, however, 

 is faulty, and it could be wished that the index 

 was more than an index to species. 



F. A. Lucas. 



Rivers of North America. A Reading Lesson for 

 Students of Geography and Geology. By 

 Israel C. Russell. New York, G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons; London, John Murray. 1898. 

 Pp. xix + 327. 17 plates, 1 table and 23 

 figures in the text. 



The third volume in The Science Series, 

 edited by Professor J. McK. Cattell, is the very 

 welcome monograph by Professor Israel C. Rus- 

 sell, the full title of which is quoted above. In 

 this, the fourth volume that Professor Russell 

 has given us concerning the greater topographic 

 forms of North America, we have a treatise that 

 has long been needed for every-day use, particu- 

 larly by those of us who are teachers. The 

 particular serviceableness of the book, however, 

 does not lie in the fact that Professor Russell 

 has given us a single-volume reference book 

 concerning American rivers, but because he first, 

 in this country, has here presented a general 

 consideration of the work, function and phe- 

 nomena of rivers in general. Indeed, this vol- 

 ume is the best popular and yet scientific treat- 

 ment we know of the origin and development of 

 land forms, and we immediately adopted it as 

 the best available text-book for a college course 

 in physiography. 



The nine chapters treat the many aspects of 

 rivers and drainage in a logical, concise, clear 

 and appealing manner, and, though in part they 

 must be read closely, are very attractive to begin- 

 ners because of the very afiparent spirit in which 

 the book was written. No beginner in earth sci- 

 ence could gather from such a treatment the 

 common conception that geography deals with 

 ' dead things ' only. The book is full of life 

 and vigor, and shows the sympathetic touch of 

 a man deeply in love with nature. As we ex- 

 pected such a naturalist's treatment, we turned 



