570 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1327 



crowds of people that gather from. 7 in the 

 morning imtil late in the evening exery day 

 to await their turn for esaminaton, diagnosis 

 and treatment, he thinks that he has come 

 to the shrine of a saint. — William Howard 

 Taft in the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 



THE JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 



On April 3, 1919, the American Society 

 of Manunalogists was founded at Washington, 

 D. C. One of the principal ohjects of this 

 society was the publication of a journal of 

 mammalogy and on November 28 the first 

 number of this journal appeared, from the 

 press of Williams and Wilkins Company. Bal- 

 timore. 



The arrival of the journal must have been 

 a matter of gratification to the many stu- 

 dents, scientific workers and others who are 

 interested in the subject of mammalian life, 

 for the need of such a publication has long 

 been felt. In its aims this journal is broad, 

 including within its scope morphology, evolu- 

 tion, paleontology, taxonomy, life histories and 

 habits, in fact " every phase of technical and 

 popular mammalogy." It is the announced 

 purpose to make the journal indispensable to 

 all active workers in mammalogy and of value 

 "to every person interested in mammals, be 

 he systematist, paleontologist, anatomist, mu- 

 seum or zoological garden man, big game 

 hunter, or just plain naturalist." 



In its make-up the journal seems in the 

 opinion of the reviewer to be both substantial 

 and attractive. The type is well chosen, the 

 paper of good quality and the photographic 

 reproductions contained give evidence that 

 the illustrative features will be well handled. 

 The front of its gray-green cover presents as 

 decoration a pen drawing by Ernest Thomp- 

 son Seton of the prong-horn antelope — symbol 

 of something distinctively American. Below 

 this is the table of contents and a glance at 

 the list of contributors reveals the names of 

 many well-known authorities in the field of 

 mammalogy. 



The first number consists of 51 pages, of 

 which about 3Y are devoted to major articles, 



5 to general notes and about the same nimiber 

 to recent literature and 2 pages to editorial 

 comment. On the closing pages are found the 

 by-laws and rules of the society adopted at the 

 time of its founding. The second number, 

 which appeared promptly, includes pages 53 

 to 110. 



An idea of the contents of the journal may 

 best be conveyed by mention of a few repre- 

 sentative titles. Among the major articles, of 

 technical character are " Criteria for the rec- 

 ognition of species and genera," " Preliminary 

 notes on African Carnivora," "Notes on the 

 fox squirrels of the southeastern United 

 States," " Names of some South American 

 mammals," " A new fossil rodent from the 

 Oligocene of South Dakota," " Identity of the 

 bean mouse of Lewis and Clark." Among 

 articles dealing with distribution, habits and 

 other phases of life-history may be mentioned 

 " Bats from Mt. Whitney, California," " The 

 mammals of Southeastern Washington," " Mi- 

 grations of the gray-squirrel," " An apparent 

 effect of winter inactivity upon the distri- 

 bution of mammals," " For a methodic study 

 of life-histories." 



Under General Notes, a department of the 

 journal which promises to be one of unusual 

 interest, are found among others, " An easy 

 method of cleaning skulls," " Eed bat and 

 spotted porpoise off the Carolinas," " The 

 Florida spotted skunk as an acrobat," " Rodent 

 mountaineers," " Does the cuterebra ever 

 emasculate its host ? " " The coyote not afraid 

 of water," " The fiying squirrel as a bird 

 killer," " Technical names of two Colohus 

 monkeys." 



In addition to reviews of recent literature 

 each number contains a long list of titles of 

 recent mammalogical publications, domestic 

 and foreign, while in the correspondence and 

 editorial departments appear some very read- 

 able letters and comments on topics of cur- 

 rent interest to mammalogists. 



In a magazine of the scope of the Journal 

 of Mammalogy it seems inevitable that 

 articles of certain types will at times pre- 

 dominate over other kinds and it is perhaps 

 too much to expect that every number shall 



