106 
manual of South African mammals is apparent. 
This, we are happy to say, is now being pro- 
vided by Mr. Sclater in the form of a large 
octavo work in two volumes, beautifully printed 
and well illustrated with, for the most part, 
excellent text cuts, many of them prepared 
especially for the work. The region here in- 
cluded is that portion of Africa south of the 
Cunene and Zambesi rivers. 
South Africa has a comparatively rich mam- 
malian fauna, the three orders here treated—the 
Primates, Carnivora and Ungulata—number- 
ing 95 species and 8 additional subspecies, while 
the remaining orders—the Chiroptera, Insecti- 
vora, Rodentia, Edentata and Cetacea—to be 
treated in Volume II., will doubtless raise the 
number to considerably more than 200. In the 
present work the author informs us he has en- 
deavored ‘to collect together all the informa- 
tion at present available on the subject of South 
African mammals,’ but he has been hampered 
in its preparation by lack of specimens and by 
paucity of information regarding the life-history 
of the species. He has, however, laid a good 
foundation for further additions and given a 
most excellent and useful summary of the sub- 
ject. A bibliography of the more important 
separate works relating to South African mam- 
mals occupies pp. xi—xix, and following the 
synonymy under each species is a paragraph, 
under the heading ‘ Literature,’ giving further 
references. 
The work is well designed to serve as a con- 
venient manual, the higher groups being de- 
fined, and keys are provided to the genera and 
species, and the descriptions are fairly full. 
The text is further paragraphed under ‘ His- 
tory,’ ‘Distribution,’ ‘Habits,’ etc., where 
whatever is known of the species is briefly 
summarized. 
In respect to nomenclature, it is well to note 
that the twelfth edition of Linneeus, instead of 
the tenth is taken as the starting point, and 
that specific names when employed for genera 
are discarded in their specific sense, so that we 
have, for example, Suricata tetradactyla instead 
of Suricata suricatta, although the latter is the 
older name ; and Oreotragus saltatriz instead of 
Oreotragus oreotragus, etc. As usual with English 
authors, only two genera are recognized in the 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 316. 
family Otariide, all the species but one be- 
ing referred (p. 118) to the genus Arctocephalus, 
the type of which is wrongly given as A. ursinus ; 
while the wholly undeterminable name 4. pus- 
illus (Schreber) is used for the single South 
African species, instead of the correct name 
A. antarcticus (Thunberg). 
This volume is the second in point of issue— 
Volume I. of the late Dr. Stark’s ‘Birds of 
South Africa’ being the first—of a ‘series in 
which it is proposed to give an account of the 
Fauna of Africa south of the Zambesi and 
Cunéné Rivers,’ under the general title ‘The 
Fauna of South Africa,’ under the editorship 
of Mr. W. L. Sclater, the author of the mammal 
volumes of the series. The second volume of 
the birds is in course of preparation by Mr. 
Sclater, from MSS. left by Dr. Stark, who was 
killed early in the present South African war. 
Td}. HA SASS 
Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fish- 
eries for the Year ending June 30, 1900. By 
GEORGE M. Bowers. Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office. 1900. Pp. 191. 
The report of the Commissioner of Fish and 
Fisheries, for the year ending June 30, 1900, 
again shows an increase of fish distributed of a 
round hundred million, consisting chiefly of 
shad, cod, flatfish, whitefish and lake trout. 
Whitefish, shad and cod stand at the head of the 
list, the totals being about 337, 265, and 241 
millions, respectively. The year, on the whole, 
has been a good one and the results commensu- 
rate with the steady expansion of operations, 
while local accidents of climate have, in a few 
cases, reduced the normal output. In Califor- 
nia the drought of last year considerably affec- 
ted the spawning migrations of the quinnat 
salmon. On the Rogue river, in Oregon, an 
innovation in the food of quinnat fry, in the way 
of using canned salmon scraps, was attempted 
with promising results. In Michigan, the close 
season was amended to allow the National 
Commission to take whitefish and lake trout for 
fish-cultural purposes, with the result of very 
large collections at a minimum expenditure. 
The Commission moreover operated the Michi- 
gan whitefish hatcheries at Detroit and Sault 
Ste., Marie, for which the State did not provide 
