April 5, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



389 



pelagic sealing lias been carried on in Ber- 

 ing Sea, thousands of motlierless ' pups ' 

 have died on the islands ejich year of star- 

 vation. 



It is lamentable that the author has been 

 so grossly deceived in these matters, and 

 still more unfortunate that a scientific work 

 should be tainted with partisan odor. 



It is stated that no islands in Bering Sea 

 besides St. Paul and St. George are inhab- 

 ited by fur-seals. This must be a slip of 

 the pen, for of course Mr. Lydekker knows 

 that the Commander Islands are the breed- 

 ing grounds of the wext Bering Sea herd, 

 just as the Pribilof Islands are the home of 

 the ea»t Bering sea herd. 



In the matter of nomenclature the author 

 seems to be on the fence. In some cases 

 the law of prioritj' is rigidly enforced ; in 

 others a name in common use is retained 

 rather than the earlier name. Preoccupied 

 generic names are as a rule discarded, but 

 Bamarls, though preoccupied, is given in- 

 stead of Bassariscus — doubtless bj' oversight. 



The author's attitude as to genera is 

 shown by the remark that in a certain 

 group only one genus can be admitted ' on 

 account of intermediate forms.' Is tins 

 not a surprising position for one of the most 

 distinguished of living paleontologists? 

 Are not all mammals connected bj- inter- 

 mediate forms, living or extinct, even if all 

 are not yet discovered? And would not 

 Lydekker's system, if logically enforced, re- 

 sult sooner or later in the destruction of 

 most of our generic groups ? Is it not more 

 rational to found genera on the weight of 

 characters as presented in extremes of dif- 

 ferentiation rather than on the accident of 

 the survival or extinction of annectant 

 species ? 



As a general criticism of the Royal Na- 

 tural History, so far as now issued, it may 

 be said that the parts cm American mam- 

 mals are weak. On the other hand, the 

 foreign species — foreign from our stand- 



point — are treated with a fullness and re- 

 liability not to l)e found in any other work. 

 The magnitude of the undertaking and the 

 haste in which the parts had tol)e preiiared 

 (to appear monthly) inevitably led to oc- 

 casional inaccuracies ; but the defects are 

 far outweighed by the merits, and the work 

 will prove helpful to naturalists and ama- 

 teurs alike for many years to come. It is, 

 indeed, a great satisfaction to be able to 

 turn to a single publication in which the 

 prmcipal facts respecting the mammals of 

 the world are brought down to date and 

 stated with clearness and authoritj-. 



C. Hart Merriam. 



The Book of Antelopes. By P. L. Sclater 

 and Oldfield Thomas. Illustrated bj' 

 Joseph Wolf and J. Smith. 4° . London, 

 R. H. Porter. 1894-95. 

 The second part of this handsome and 

 useful work, dated Jauuarj^ 1895, has come 

 to hand. The distinguished authors make 

 no attempt to ofl'er a complete scientific 

 treatise on the antelopes, but furnish •' de- 

 scriptive letter-press [with full synonymy] 

 for the beautiful series of lithographic plates 

 drawn some twenty years ago under the 

 supervision of the late Sir Victor Brooke, 

 making thereto such necessary modifica- 

 tions and adilitions as the progress of sci- 

 ence demands." 



The work comprises the diverse members 

 of the Bo^idte commonly called antelopes, 

 hartbeests, gnus, duikers, water-boks and 

 gazelles, and also the gemsbok, saiga, oryx, 

 eland and many others. The geographic 

 range of each species is given, together with 

 an interesting account of its habits and pe- 

 culiarities. Besides the full page colored 

 plates, there are many excellent cuts in the 

 text, mostly of horns and .skulls. The book 

 therefore is helpful alike to the naturalist 

 and the sportsman, and is a hand.some ad- 

 dition to any library. 



The animals treated in the first two parts 



