526 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 929 



special feature of the purely technical part of 

 this work as compared with its predecessor is 

 the different degree of importance accorded 

 to cranial characters. For Dobson the skull 

 scarcely existed. Thirty years ago " there 

 were separate skulls of only half the number 

 of species of Megachiroptera then in the col- 

 lection, whereas now every species and sub- 

 species in the museum, with one exception 

 (Pteropus aruensis) is represented by at least 

 one and often by a series of skulls." The orig- 

 inal edition contains figures of the skulls of 

 lY species, of which only one is a fruit-bat. 

 In the present volume the skulls of 47 species 

 are figured,* and detailed cranial and dental 

 measurements are given of practically every 

 recognized form.° 



Another aspect in which Mr. Andersen's 

 work differs from Dobson's is the relatively 

 greater space allotted to speculation on such 

 general subjects as distribution, interrelation- 

 ships, the relative primitiveness or specializa- 

 tion of species, and the meaning of structures. 

 The interest of the volume is thus much in- 

 creased, particularly because it is here that 

 the greatest individual differences of opinion 

 are likely to be encountered. It is easy, for 

 instance, to follow the author in his generic, 

 specific and subspecific " splitting " of the 

 Cynopterus group; but when he remarks of 

 Sphwrias (p. 673) that : " It must use its in- 

 cisors in a way different from that of its rela- 

 tives, as clearly shown by their remarkably 

 proclivous position and peculiarly modified 

 shape," he appears to offer a greater unknown 

 quantity to explain a less. That is, until 

 some member of this group is known to feed 

 on other substances than fruit pulp there is 

 no reason to believe that the exact form of the 

 small and mechanically unimportant incisor 



* With two exceptions the 85 illustrations are 

 original pen drawings by Mr. A. J. Engel Terzi. 

 Their quality leaves nothing to be desired. 



' The fact that the tables of measurements con- 

 tain maxima and minima only is one of the few 

 details of plan open to adverse criticism. The 

 main object of making a series of measurements 

 of the same part in a number of individuals is to 

 discover what is normal; we are here given the 

 two records which are most unusual. 



teeth is of consequence to the animals. Such 

 teeth in any mammal appear to assume any 

 form readily developed from a generalized 

 type; and that special modes of use enter into 

 the problem has not yet been shown, however 

 currently it may be assumed. 



From the point of view of the general reader 

 the discussion of geographic distribution (pp. 

 Ixxv-xeii) is of unusual interest. Mr. Ander- 

 sen here shows the fallacy of the popular idea 

 that bats, having wings, roam where they will, 

 and of the more pernicious notion that philo- 

 sophizing is profitable without exact and de- 

 tailed knowledge of facts." He says (pp. 

 Ixxvi-lxxviii) : 



The evidence afforded by the geographical dis- 

 tribution of bats has generally been considered of 

 doubtful value. . . . This unwillingness or hesita- 

 tion to place bats on an equal zoogeographical 

 footing with non-flying mammalia would seem to 

 be due, partly to the preconceived idea that owing 

 to their power of flight bats must evidently have 

 been able easily to spread across barriers which, 

 in ordinary circumstances, are insuperable for 

 wingless mammalia; partly to the fact that hith- 

 erto very often whole series of distinct forms have 

 been concealed under one technical name. So long 

 as (to mention only three cases among many) 

 Macroglossus minimus was believed to range un- 

 changed from the Himalayas to New Guinea, Aus- 

 tralia, and the Solomon Islands (now two distinct 

 genera, thirteen recognizable forms), or "Cynop- 

 terus marginatus" over India, Ceylon, Indo-China 

 and Indo-Malaya (now six species, fourteen forms), 

 or ' ' SMnolopTius ferrum-equinum ' ' uniformly over 

 Europe, Asia and Africa (now numerous distinct 

 forms) they were undoubtedly of questionable 

 value as zoogeographical material. But these and 

 similar anomalies invariably disappear as soon as 

 modern methods of discrimination applied on 

 vastly increased material render it possible to 

 draw the lines of separation between the species 

 (and their local modifications) somewhat more 

 closely in accordance with the lines drawn by 

 nature. The second argument referred to above, 

 that the spreading of bats from one locality to 



° One of the most persistent of modern zoological 

 myths — the belief that the rabbit of Porto Santo 

 has developed recognizable characters within his- 

 toric times — arose from the failure to discriminate 

 between the Mediterranean and central European 

 races of a common mammal. 



