566 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 67. 



An uuusually large proportion of the birds 

 whose life histories make up the present part 

 are species with which Mr. Nehrling is person- 

 ally familiar; as a result most of the biographies 

 are original and more than ordinarily interest- 

 ing. Mr. Nehrling not only loves birds, but he 

 has a keen ear for the harmonies of nature. 

 "The Bobolink," he says, "never sings before 

 sunjrise. It begins its sweet music when the 

 more eaj-nest and solemn melody of the Eobin, 

 which was heard from earliest daybreak, is 

 almost at its close. Nature seems to have or- 

 dained that the serious part of her musical 

 entertainment in the morning hours should be 

 heaid first, and that the lively and merry 

 strains should follow them. In the evening 

 this order is reversed, and after the comedy is 

 concluded nature lulls us to repose by the 

 mellow notes of the Vesper Sparrow and the 

 pensive and still more melodious strains of the 

 solitary Thrush." C. H. M. 



The Book of Antelopes. By P. L. Sclatbe and 

 Oldfield Thomas. With colored plates by 

 Wolf and Smit. 4°. London, E. H. Porter, 

 1895-96. 



Since the notice of parts I. and II. of this ad- 

 mirable work (Science, April 5, 1895, p. 389) 

 the first volume has been completed and one 

 part of the second has appeared. Vol. I. con- 

 tains 220 pages and twenty-four handsomely 

 colored plates, besides numerous useful figures 

 in the text. 



Parts III. and IV. treat of the duikers (genus 

 Cephalophus), and part IV., which completes the 

 first volume, closes with an account of the four- 

 horned antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis). The 

 duikers, unlike most of the antelopes, live in 

 brush and forests. They inhabit Africa south 

 of the Sahara, and most of the species are re- 

 stricted to West Africa. Twenty species are 

 recognized, ranging in size 'from that of 

 a small donkey down to that of a hare. ' As a 

 rule they are handsomely colored, though most 

 of them lack the striking and, in some cases, 

 startling recognition markings that characterize 

 some of the other groups. A few of the species, 

 however, as the banded duiker (C dorise) and 

 the yellow-backed duiker (C. sylvicuUrix), are 

 conspicuously marked. 



Part V. , comprising ninety -two pages and six 

 colored plates, takes up the African subfamily 

 NeotragiuEe and treats of the klipspringer 

 (Oreotragus), the oribis (Oureiria), the grysbok 

 and steinboks {Raphicerus), the Zanzibar and 

 Livingstone's antelopes (Nesotragus), the royal 

 antelope {Neotragus) and the dik-diks (Madoqua). 



The book of Antelopes is a timely work and 

 it is matter for congratulation that the colored 

 plates prepared under the supervision of the 

 late Sir Victor Brook more than twenty years 

 ago are finally given to the public accompanied 

 by such authoritative letter press. If the dis- 

 tinguished authors have erred in the treatment 

 of certain species it is on the side of conserva- 

 tism, and it must be admitted that they have en- 

 joyed unsurpassed opportunities for the study 

 of the living animals at the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens, of which the senior author has had 

 charge for nearly forty years, and for the study 

 of skins and skulls in the rich mammal collec- 

 tion of the British Museum, of which the junior 

 author has long been curator. 



Still, one is filled with regret at the large 

 number of species unrepresented, or at most im- 

 perfectly represented, in museums, and it is sad 

 to feel that many species are on the road to 

 rapid extinction. Before it is too late sports- 

 men as well as naturalists should spare no pains 

 to secure specimens of the rarer kinds and see 

 that they reach some of the larger museums, 

 where their permanent preservation will be 

 guaranteed. C. H. M. 



Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers. By 

 Bertram Blount, F. I. C, F. C. S. and A. 

 G. Bloxam, F. I. C., F. C. S. Vol. I.— 

 Chemistry of Engineering, Building and Metal- 

 lurgy. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co. 

 London, Charles Griffin & Co., L't'd. 1896. 

 8vo, 244 pp., Illust. $3.50. 

 This is the first volume of a small and concise 

 work on Chemical Technology, which is espe- 

 cially intended for engineers, architects, builders 

 and factory superintendents, as well as students 

 of chemical technology. It is intended prima- 

 rily for those whose knowledge of chemical 

 theories and processes is limited, but so skilfully 

 is the subject-matter presented that even trained 

 chemists and expert engineers may find the 



