812 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 50. 



quantities occur in mathematical physics. Du 

 Bois, in his book on magnetic circuits, has 

 given a table of six cases. Prof. Xipher's dis- 

 covery was eflFLisively welcomed by Prof. Silvanus 

 Thomson, but it was amusing to find one of the 

 English technical journals editorially refusing 

 to admit its truth, on the ground that the cur- 

 rent from an electrode in the form of a spherical 

 bowl in an infinite conductor would probably 

 not be distributed in like manner to the lines 

 of force from an electrified bowl in air. 



After the chapter on electrostatics, of the 

 large number of examples worked out, nearly 

 all are of practical interest. In fact, the princi- 

 pal complaint that we have to make of the book 

 is that it seems wi'itten for engineering students. 

 Practically, of course, this is the reverse of a 

 disadvantage. There is a large amount of 

 arithmetic in the book, which again, although 

 repulsive to some in an ' advanced ' book, will 

 be very welcome to many. There are a number 

 of excellent figures, some of them quite original, 

 an interesting one being of a surface showing 

 the doubtless dependence of the strength of an 

 alternating current on self-induction and ca- 

 pacity. Although the dynamo and transformer, 

 including the tri-phase system, receive ample 

 treatment, there is, for those who do not find 

 examples enough in the body of the book, a 

 chapter of well selected problems at the end. 

 There is also a chapter on units, in which both 

 systems are treated, although nothing is said 

 about keeping k and /< in the formulas. The 

 names given the practical units by the American 

 Institute of Electrical Engineers are mentioned. 

 We notice the curious spelling ' culomb,' which 

 seems neither fish, flesh nor fowl. Each of the 

 above books has a good index. In conclusion 

 we may be permitted to express the wish that 

 every student of electrical engineering might 

 learn at least as much theory as is contained in 

 one or the other of these books. We hope that 

 their appearance will not cause anyone to sup- 

 pose that Maxwell may now be laid on the 

 shelf. Arthue G. Webstek. 



Claek University. 



winge on brazilian apes. 

 Mr. Herluf Winge has recently published 

 his fourth paper on the mammals of the province 



of Minas Geraes, Brazil.* In this quarto of 45 

 pages the author deals with the Primates as he 

 has already treated the rodents, bats and mar- 

 supials. The material on which the present 

 study is based was brought to the Zoological 

 Museum in Copenhagen by Lund and Rein- 

 hardt. 



As in the earlier numbers of the series, this 

 paper consists of three parts : (1) nominal lists 

 of the species ; (2) a detailed enumeration of the 

 species, with critical notes on the relationships 

 of the forms whose remains are found in the 

 cave deposits (' Jordfundne '), and those now 

 living (' Nulevende ') in the immediate vicinity 

 of the caves ; (3) a review of the mutual rela- 

 tionships of the members of the group. 



The paper is illustrated by two plates repro- 

 duced from photographs of actual specimens. 

 While the results attained by this process are 

 not as uniform as could be desired, the figures 

 on the whole are satisfactorj', especially those 

 of the skull of Callithrix. 



Five species of apes are represented in the 

 collections, Callithrix personata, Mycetes seniculus, 

 Hapale penicillaia, Cebus fatvelliis and Eriodes 

 braailiensis {Eriodes 'propithecus' Winge). Four 

 of these are found both in the cave deposits and 

 living in the vicinity of the caves. Except in the 

 case of Callithrix personata the cave bones agree 

 perfectly with those of recent specimens. Thesin - 

 gle femur of Callithrix found in the Lapa da Serra 

 das Abelhas is slightly larger than that of liv- 

 ing examples and has the ridges for muscular 

 attachment rather more sharply defined, but is 

 not specifically distinct from C. personata. The 

 only extinct species is Eriodes hrasiliensis (Lund), 

 the living representatives of which occur in ex- 

 treme southern Brazil. 



Mr. Winge applies the new specific name 

 propithecus to Eriodes brasiliensis because the 

 other species of the genus are also Brazilian, 

 and because the term propithecus originally pro- 

 posed by Lund as the generic name for a group 

 now considered congeneric with Eriodes should 



* Jordfundne og nulevende Aber ( Primates) fra Lagoa 

 Santa, 3flnas Geraes, Srasilien. Med Udsigt over 

 Abernes indbyrdes SliEgtskab. Af Herluf Winge. 

 Aftrykaf 'E Museo Lundii,' enSamlingaf Afhand- 

 linger om de i Brasilieiis Knoglebuler af Professor Dr. 

 P. W. Lund udgiavede DjTe- og Menneskeknogler. 

 Paa CarlsberRfondets Bekostning udgivet ved Professor 

 Dr. C. F. Liitken. Kjiibenhavn, 1895. 



