Junk 5, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



911 



and ' C. doliatus ' were bracketed ( \ ) and 

 listed as unpublished ' (Holbrook, ined.)-" 

 Really each of these species was published in 

 ' Vol. III.' of the second edition and Dekay 

 had referred to Holbrook's descriptions of the 

 species which occur on adjoining pages, %. e.. 

 Coluber constrictor (III., 55, pi. 13, errone- 

 ously given by Dekay as ' p. 69, pi. 15 ') and 

 Coronella sayi. The 0. rhomhomaculatus and 

 C. doliatus of the first edition were referred 

 to Coronella in the second edition. 



Under Salamandra ruhra, reference was 

 made to ' Eolhrooh, IST. Am. Herpetology, Vol. 

 4,' without specification of page or plate. In 

 the second edition the species was treated of 

 in the fifth volume. 



For all the other species described in the 

 fourth volume, reference was made by Dekay 

 to the second edition only. 



With these exceptions, I know of no refer- 

 ences to the volume in question. 



The subjoined description and summary of 

 the contents of the volume are entirely due 

 to Mr. Stone. 



Vol. IV., Philadelphia, J. Dobson, 1840. 

 I^ito, title page + blank leaf + introduction 

 [vii]-viii + contents (one leaf) + 9-126 pp., 

 28 pi.] 



Page. Plate. 



Trionyx ferox 9 ■ 1 



muticus lY 2 



Chelonura serpentina 21 3 



Temminchii (n.) 29 4 



€helonia mydas 35 5 



caretta 43 6 



imhricata ■ 49 7 



Smys cumierlandensis (n.).. . 55 8 



pseudographica (n.) 59 9 



Coluher getulus 63 10 



Sayi 67 11 



melanoleucus 71 12 



constricta 75 13 



eximius 81 14 



vernalis '. 85 15 



saurita 87 16 



sirtalis 91 17 



ordinatus 95 18* 



sipedon 99 19 



* Misquoted in text VIII. for XVIII. 



rhomhomaculatus (n.)...103 20 



leheris 105 21 



Bufo quercicus (n.) 109 22 



Coluher amcenus 113 23 



Crotalus oreganus (n.) 115 29* [^24] 



Salamandra cirrigera 119 30 [=25] 



quadramaculata (n.)t...l21 27 [=26] 



rulra 123 27 



Haldemani (n.) 125 28 



" Acknowledgements in the introduction are 

 to Dr. Harden, of Georgia; S. S. Haldeman, 

 Dr. Barratt, of South Carolina, for specimens, 

 Mr. Heimans, Miss Martin and Chas Rogers 

 for drawings, and to Dr. Logan for aid. 



" The lithographing is by Duval, the draw- 

 ings by Dr. T. M. Logan (4), A. Heiman 

 (2), J. Queen (4), C. Rogers (3), Stocking 

 (1), J. Sera (5), J. H. Richard (6), Miss 

 Martin (1), Dr. J. L. Smith (1), A. Newsam 

 (1). 



" The volume is perfectly uniform with the 

 others." 



It will be noticed that Mr. Stone records 

 no less than ten artists as contributors to the 

 plates of the volume. It is quite possible that 

 Holbrook may have become dissatisfied with 

 the results, and for that reason suppressed the 

 volume. His ideals were high, but, unfortu- 

 nately, his constitutional inertness and for- 

 getfulness interposed to prevent him from 

 realizing his ideals; those ideals, too, were 

 rather the perfection of the artistic than of the 

 literary parts of his work. His later artist, 

 Richard (pronounced Ree-shard), was an Al- 

 satian Frenchman and his work required 

 rigorous supervision. As a matter of gossip, 

 he informed me that he had heard, in Charles- 

 ton, that Holbrook had spent ' three fortunes ' 

 in the preparation and publication of his 

 works. He would become dissatisfied with a 

 work before its completion and would have 

 new plates drawn and published. Then he 

 would offer to substitute the new for the old 



* Tlie nmnbers on the last five plates are badly 

 jumbled; the numbers in the text are all right, 

 however. 



t Name accompanying description is ' maculo- 

 guadrata.' The plate name comes first but 

 maculo-guadrata is in the contents at the begin- 

 ning of the book! 



