Decembee 29, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



863 



rather that each will find in it much of in- 

 terest and value. In truth the style is very 

 unequal. The first three or four chapters 

 and chapter sixteen, as well as many other 

 portions, are models of clearness and sim- 

 plicity and are of use to the general reader as 

 well as to the specialist, while portions of the 

 chapter on the morphology of the fins and of 

 other chapters will hardly attract the nature 

 lover. This inequality of matter arises largely 

 from the fact that while a part has been pre- 

 pared especially for this book and with refer- 

 ence to all the classes of readers mentioned, 

 much of it has been quoted from more or less 

 technical sources. Thus much of the chapter 

 on the morphology" of the fins is quoted from 

 technical papers of Ryder, Kerr and Gill. 

 The chapters on geographical distribution and 

 on the history of ichthyology are, with little 

 modification, reprinted from earlier papers of 

 the author, some of them published in this 

 journal. The chapter on color is from a 

 paper of the author in the American Nat- 

 uralist and' that on collecting from a paper 

 in the Popular Science Monthly. Most of the 

 chapter on diseases is quoted from American 

 authors, but Hof er's valuable ' Handbuch ' is 

 ignored. 



So on the first page we read: 



If we would understand a fish, we must first go 

 and catch one. This is not very hard to do, for 

 there are plenty of them in the little rushing 

 brook or among thfe lilies of the pond. Let us 

 take a small hook, put on it an angle worm — no 

 need to seek an elaborate artificial fly — and we 

 will go to the old ' swimming hole ' or the deep 

 eddy at the root of the old stump where the 

 stream has gnawed away the bank in changing its 

 course. 



This may savor of the nature-study leaflet 

 but is clear withal and meaty. On the other 

 hand, we have this quotation from Gill: 



The two elements of the arch, named by Parker, 

 in Lepidosiren, ' supra-clavicle ' (scapula) and 

 'clavicle' (ectocoracoid) seem to be comparable 

 together, and as a whole, with the single element 

 carrying the humerus and pectoral fin in the 

 Crossopterygians {Polypi erus and Galomoichthys) 

 and other fishes, and therefore not identical re- 

 spectively with the ' supraclavicle ' and ' clavicle ' 



(except in part) recognized by him in other fishes. 

 (I., p. 89.) 



Would not the book have been more readable 

 for all had the author adhered to the plan 

 with which he seems to have set out, that of 

 presenting the whole subject in non-technical 

 form and in his own clear and forceful lan- 

 guage ? 



An examination of the general part of the 

 book as to its scientific quality shows the same 

 unevenness as in style and in the distribu- 

 tion of space. The chapters dealing with the 

 internal organs (exclusive of the skeleton) 

 omit much. Briining's fundamental work 

 on the physiology of the circulation of fishes 

 has not been made use of. The account of 

 the nervous system (chapter VII.) does not 

 mention the thalamencephalon as one of the 

 subdivisions of the brain, does not call atten- 

 tion to the distin'ctive features of the brain 

 which result from the presence of the nervus 

 lateralis and does not mention the lateralis. 

 The account of the nervous system is then 

 that of the elementary text-book of compara- 

 tive anatomy of ten years ago, and includes 

 nothing of the important and accessible re- 

 cent work of Herrick, Johnston and other 

 Americans. 



The account of the eye does not discuss its 

 most striking peculiarities worked out ten 

 years ago by Beer,^ and perpetuates an old 

 error of Plateau, found in nearly all text- 

 books, in the statement that the cornea is 

 ' little convex,' though Beer showed that this 

 is not the case. 



One is left with a hazy impression of the 

 sense of hearing in fishes after reading the 

 contradictory statements on pages 115, 121 

 and 122; and this in spite of references to 

 Parker's recent work. The sense of taste is 

 dismissed with a paragraph and Herrick's 

 important and most interesting work is not 

 mentioned, nor are his results utilized. 



A good deal of space is given to the subject 

 of color, and yet the reader is likely to be left 

 with an indefinite and in some respects er- 

 roneous notion of the cause of colors and the 



- Beer, Th., ' Die Accommodation des Fischauges,' 

 Pfliiger's Archiv, LVIII., 523-650. 



