Dbcembee 20, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



855 



venient form the principal topographical facts 

 of human osteology. Its author is already 

 favorably known by an excellent treatise on 

 human anatomy, from which about one-half the 

 illustrations of the atlas are taken. These 

 again are many of them copied from older works. 



A compilation made on this plan is necessarily 

 somewhat lacking in artistic effect, and has not 

 the unity that would be secured by a set of 

 original drawings made by a single hand, and 

 embodying a well conceived plan of instruction. 

 There is no settled scale of rej)resentation, some 

 of the bones being drawn full size, while others 

 are not more than one-eighth of that and quite 

 too small to show detail effectively. No state- 

 ment of scale is made in any case, so that the 

 learner is left in doubt as to the size of the ob- 

 ject represented. Some of the illustrations ap- 

 pear unnecessary, while many important gaps 

 occur. 



For instance, the only example of internal 

 bone architecture shown is a well-known figure 

 of the head of the femur, and this, although 

 said to be drawn from a photograph, is incor- 

 rect. The difficult sphenoid is very inade- 

 quately treated, its development, so important 

 from a morphological point of view, being 

 wholly omitted. In fact, there is no attempt to 

 show the development of any of the cranial 

 bones but the temporal, and that is not wholly 

 satisfactory. 



It is, of course, quite conceivable that Prof. 

 Debierre should think proper to omit morpho- 

 logical subjects from an elementary work, but, 

 why, in that case, should he give a scheme of a 

 theoretical vertebra that will be wholly unin- 

 telligible to a beginner withovit adequate expla- 

 nation, and devote three figures to Albrecht's 

 rather doubtful theory of the constitution of the 

 superior maxillary bone ? Surely a figure might 

 have been spared to show the difference between 

 the primordial, or cartilaginous cranium and 

 the secondary, or membranous one. 



The merit of the book lies in its cheapness 

 and availability. While by no means reaching 

 the first rank, it will doubtless be useful to those 

 who cannot purchase the expensive treatises 

 of Testut and Poirier, and in convenience will 

 far exceed those admirable works. 



Frank Bakee. 



Catalogue of the Marine Mollusks of Japan, with 

 Descriptions of New Species, and Notes on Others 

 Collected by Frederick Stearns. By Henry A. 

 PiLSBRY. Detroit, F. Stearns. 1895. viii+ 

 196. Pp., 8°. XI PI. 



This work has grown out of the collections 

 made by Mr. Stearns, personally or by deputy, 

 1889-92, in Japanese waters, and which were 

 submitted for identification to Mr. H. A. Pils- 

 bry. It consists of three portions : a list of 

 marine mollusks which have been stated to in- 

 habit Japan, from Yezo to Kiushiu, with refer- 

 ences to description or figures of most species, 

 and an enumeration of the special localities at 

 which each species has been found by previous- 

 naturalists or by Mr. Stearns. This is followed 

 by a catalogue of the Inland Mollusks taken by 

 Mr. Stearns in Japan, and, finally, by a list of 

 mollusks obtained by that gentleman from the 

 Loo Choo Islands. The work is concluded by 

 an index of genera and sub-genera, and ex- 

 planations of the eleven very excellent plates. 

 Forty species and eight varieties believed to be 

 new are described. The total number of Japan- 

 ese marine mollusks, excluding those from the 

 Loo Choo Islands, is about 2400, of which 36' 

 are Cephalopods, 17 Pteropods, 1700 Gastropods 

 and 650 Pelecypods. This is a fauna, nearly 

 twice as great as that of the entire east coast of 

 North America, a comparison which gives a vivid 

 idea of the richness in molluscan life exhibited 

 by the Japanese waters. It is probable that the 

 discrepancy is still greater than these figures- 

 would indicate, since the dredge has been much 

 more generally used on the American coast, and 

 there are probably many species yet to be dis- 

 covered even in the shallow waters of Japan. 



The literature of Japanese mollusks is a good 

 deal scattered, in spite of the magnificent pub- 

 lications by Lischke, Dunker, Schreuck and von 

 Martens. This is illustrated by the fact that 

 this work enumerates about five hundred more 

 marine mollusks than the latest monograph by 

 Dunker. Students are, therefore, greatly in- 

 debted, both to Mr. Stearns for the liberality 

 which made it possible and to the careful work of 

 Mr. Pilsbry, who has brought together the data 

 for the comprehensive catalogue under review. 

 The printing of the text and the execution of 

 the plates are all that could be desired. Beside 



