30 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 992 



55 genera,^ and 588 species and subspecies. 

 Except for the general accounts in the intro- 

 duction there are no definitions of families 

 and higher groups. There are no keys to the 

 genera, while those provided for the species 

 are not dichotomous.^ The account of each 

 species is arranged under the following heads : 

 synonymy, type locality, geographic distribu- 

 tion, general characters, color, and measure- 

 ments, to which is usually added a discussion 

 of characters and some account of habits. 

 Cranial and dental peculiarities are either 

 ignored or superficially treated; a lack which 

 is partly compensated for by the abundance 

 and excellence of the illustrations. 



The nomenclature of the Review is uncom- 

 promisingly founded on the law of priority.^ 

 The author's cheerful acceptance of the results, 

 anthropoids, the number of such groups recog- 

 nized is still too small. This is particularly true 

 of the American monkeys, all of which, in spite of 

 their great diversity of structure, are, as usual, 

 crowded into two families. 



3 The following generic and subgenerio names 

 are here published for the first time: Shinostigma 

 (I., xl.), type Cercopithecus hamlyni Pocock; 

 Allochrocebus (I., xl.) type Ceroopitliecus I'hoesti 

 Sclater; Neooebus (I., xl.), type Simia ceptius 

 Linnaeus; Insignioebus (I., xl.), type Cercopith- 

 ecus aXbigvlaris Sykes; NeopitJieciis (I., Ix.), 

 accidental renaming of Neocebiis; AlUlilemur 

 (I., Ill), type Clieirogaleus medius Geoffroy 

 Braahyteleus (II., 49), substitute for Brachyteles 

 Spix; Neocebus (II., 224), included species 

 Fithecus resimus, P. validus, P. alacer, P. hari 

 moni and P. fuscus (not Neocebus Elliot, I., xl.) 

 Melanocebus (II., 296), included species: La^io 

 pyga leucampyx, L. pluto, L. mgrigenis, L. bou 

 tourlini, L. opi^thosticta, L. aurora, L. stuhlmanni 

 L. neumunni, L. doggetti, L. princeps, L. car- 

 ruthersi, L. nictitans, L. n. laglaisi, L. sticticeps 

 and L, martini; Pseudogorilla (III., 224), type a 

 young male Gorilla gorilla supposed to represent 

 the G. mayema of Alix and Bouvier. 



4 There are 17 alternatives beginning with the 

 words "General color" in the key to the species 

 of PygatTirix (III., 30-32) and 24 beginning with 

 the word ' ' Hands ' ' in that to the species of 

 Pithecus (II., 189-190). Such tabulations of char- 

 acters can not strictly be regarded as keys. 



5 Except as regards the formation of names. 

 Here the International code is abandoned and per- 



however inconvenient they may temporarily 

 appear, should do much to counteract the 

 present tendency to seek relief in exceptions 

 to the uniform application of this rule. Dis- 

 cussing the name Simia, recently shown to 

 apply to the Barbary ape instead of to the 

 orang or chimpanzee. Doctor Elliot says: 



" This procedure may be regretted by mam- 

 malogists generally, for Simia has always been 

 connected with some group of the great apes, 

 but the reasons advanced for doing this were 

 faulty, and an error was committed, and no 

 matter how familiar this act may have become 

 to authors and others generally, yet it was 

 still an error, and therefore something neces- 

 sary to change and correct. ISTo error can 

 ever become truth simply by toleration and 

 should never be continued when discovered 

 for any reason, and particularly not for the 

 totally insufiicient one that the change would 

 inconvenience the memories of certain writers." 



The same uncompromising attitude is as- 

 sumed with regard to every question discussed 

 in the Review : " The conclusions given, no 

 matter how they may disagree at times with 

 the opinions expressed by other laborers in the 

 same field, have in every case been reached 

 only after careful and patient investigation." 

 This strongly personal character of the work 

 is manifest on every page. While it gives the 

 text its chief value it, in connection with the 

 peculiar circumstances under which the manu- 

 script was prepared, accounts also for the 

 main defects. These are the lack of proper 

 correlation between notes made at widely 

 different times and places,^ and the generally 



sonal taste is freely indulged, not always with 

 happy results from the point of view of the purist. 

 For instance, the generic name Ateles, evidently 

 intended by Geoffroy as a transliteration of the 

 Greek adjective areX^s, is changed to Ateleus (II., 

 21) with the following comment: " AreXijo- (sic a 

 priv. and reXoir (sic), eo<r (sic) a neuter noun, 

 which with the a priv. would be, when Latinized, 

 Ateleus." 



8 At least it is difficult otherwise to explain the 

 frequently-recurring discrepancies such as: the 

 statement on one page that an animal is clove 

 brown and on the next that it is jet black (IH., 

 109, 110); "upperparts bistre" and "upperparts 



