496 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 18. 



tuted current nomenclature for tlie old, and 

 has added numerous foot-notes, alwaj's over 

 his OAvn initials, amplifying or correctiag 

 statements made in the body of the work, 

 which has been allowed to stand essentially 

 as in the original edition. Mr. Brewster 

 has also added an appendix comprising ad- 

 ditions to Minot's list and containing an ab- 

 stract of the results of his study of the 

 gyrfalcons — a most perplexing group. He 

 agrees with Ridgway in the number and 

 nomenclature of the forms, and records the 

 authentic New England specimens of each. 

 It is a great compliment to the worth of 

 Minot's book that one of the most eminent 

 of American ornithologists, and one who 

 could ill spare the time from his own im- 

 portant work, was willing to edit it. 



C. H. M. 



The Central Nervous System of Desmognathus 

 fusca. By Pieeee A. Fish. Reprinted 

 fi'om Journal of Morphology, x, 1, 1895. 

 Mr. Fish has made an important contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of the brain of 

 salamaders. His preliminary remarks em- 

 brace two- statements of interest: (1) That 

 the adult Desmognathus fusca lives equally 

 well in the open air or wholly under water^ 

 even where no trace of lungs exists; and 

 (2) that the mouth cavity and esophagus 

 are lined with ciliated columnar epithelium. 

 During arial respiration the floor of the 

 mouth is alternately raised and lowered very 

 rapidly, while when the animal was kept 

 under water it was raised and held in that 

 position a long time ; the inference being that 

 the blood is oxygenated by means of the 

 epithelium of the mouth. 



The simplicity of the amphibian brain 

 renders it, as the author states, " a most 

 admirable object for the study of morpho- 

 logical relations; its general absence of flex- 

 ure, its successive segmental arrangement 

 and the degree of exposure and differentia- 

 tion of these segments, give it a great ad- 



vantage over most other generalized forms." 

 It was found to be remarkable for the large 

 number of ' embryological ' features pi-e- 

 served. 



About 40 pages are devoted to the brain 

 and cranial nerves, and the paper is ac- 

 companied by a bibliography and four 

 plates. C. H. M. 



Introduction to Botang. 'By Volney M. 



Spalding, Professor of Botany • in the 



University of Michigan. Boston, D. C. 



Heath & Co. 1896. Pp. 287. 



Professor Spalding has added to his 

 valuable book that which was needed to 

 make it complete, namely, a full glossary, 

 an iudex, a brief chapter on the organs of 

 flowerless plants, and a chapter on fungi. 

 These added chapters are in keeping with 

 the genei'al plan of the book. .The material 

 required is briefly indicated and directions 

 given for its care. Laboratory directions, 

 brief notes directing the student's attention 

 to prominent features, foUow. These ar& 

 extremely good, and it is hoped this feature 

 of Spalding's method of studying plants, cor- 

 responding, as it does, with Dodge's method 

 in biology, will be pursued by future mak- 

 ers of text-books, and that we have seen 

 the last of full accounts of what is to be 

 seen, requiring on the part of the student 

 very little thought, and only the attention 

 necessaiy for the vex-ification of the state- 

 ments. It is remarkable, when one stops 

 to think of it, how little the inductive meth- 

 od is used in the studj^ of biology. After 

 the directions, comes a little review or sum- 

 mary, giving information not likely to be 

 attained from laboratory practice. This is 

 a very marked feature of the volume and is 

 especially valuable because the information 

 given is so up to date. A very slight exami- 

 nation of the foot-notes will reveal the fact 

 that the very latest research work has beea 

 consulted in the preparation of this text- 

 book. 



