356 



SCIEJ^CE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 193 



Mr. Fornander has also brought to light the evi- 

 dences of an interesting series of movements 

 vsAhich began in the Polynesian Islands about the 

 commencement of the eleventh century of our 

 era, and continued for two or three hundred years. 

 During that period, as he shows us, "the folk-lore 

 in all the principal groups becomes replete with 

 the legends and songs of a number of remarkable 

 men, of bold expeditions, stirring adventures, and 

 voyages undertaken to far-off lands." For seven 

 or eight generations the navigators of the leading 

 groups, from the Sandwich Islands in the north 

 to the Society group in the south, and from the 

 Friendly Islands in the west to the Marquesas in 

 the east, were accustomed to interchange visits, 

 and to voyage freely to and fro, with far more 

 assurance and better seamanship than were dis- 

 played by the early Greek and Italian sailors in 

 the Mediterranean. Yet the distances thus trav- 

 ersed sometimes exceeded two thousand miles, 

 and crossed both the north and the south trade- 

 winds and the equatorial belt. These surprising 

 feats of seamanship were performed by people who 

 were still in the stone age, and so far back in that 

 age, in the industrial sense, that they had not even 

 arrived at the invention of pottery. Such facts 

 show, that, in accounting for the movements of 

 population in primitive times, mere distance and 

 difficulties of navigation need hardly be taken into 

 account. 



The author has traced with much care the liis- 

 tory of the Hawaiian people from the close of that 

 era of unrest and adventure in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, down to the time, in the early part of the pres- 

 ent century, when Kamehameha, with the help of 

 foreign arms and auxiliaries, succeeded in uniting 

 all the islands under one government. The whole 

 of this portion of the work is of great interest. 

 The industry and judgment displayed in collecting 

 and sifting evidence secure the reader's confidence. 

 The details which are given concerning the primi- 

 tive customs and social arrangements of the people 

 have much ethnological value. In passing from 

 this section of the work to that in which the author 

 sets forth his views respecting the origin and af- 

 filiations of the Polynesian race, a serious disap- 

 pointment is experienced. The undoubted suc- 

 cess achieved in dealing with the native tradi- 

 tions and other local matters, which were familiar 

 to the writer, deserts him when he ventures into 

 this wider and less-known field. The student of 

 philology, however, will be able to extract even 

 from this portion something that will be useful 

 to him. Ethnologists, while they will find the 

 author's archeological theories and his peculiar 

 etymologies fanciful and unsatisfying, will not 

 allow these minor defects to blind them to the 



great and indeed unique value of his work as a 

 treasury of local traditions and customs and a 

 trustworthy historical record. 



PACKARD'S FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



This is an abridgment of the larger works by 

 the same author, and is intended for the use of 

 beginners. It contains about two hundred and 

 ninety pages, including glossary and index. It 

 differs from the larger works in the same series in 

 treating of fewer forms, containing much less 

 anatomy, and the general, by no means entire, 

 omission of the embryonic development of the 

 different groups. The general plan of the book, 

 and allotment of space to the different types and 

 classes, is good, although some important groups 

 have been, perhaps necessarily, slighted. Thus 

 only four pages are devoted to vermes. There is 

 the same lack of clearness and exactness in defini- 

 tion so characteristic of the larger text-books in 

 the same series. Thus the definition of ' Coelen- 

 terata ' contains no reference to the radiate struc- 

 ture of the animals, to tentacles or thread-cells, 

 or to the use of the same cavity for digestion and 

 circulation. Most of these points have indeed 

 been noticed in the general description, but, in 

 summing up the essential characteristics of the 

 type, they are all omitted. The same definition, 

 too, leads us to infer that all Coelenterata pass 

 through a medusoid stage. The definition of 

 ' echinoderms ' is hardly more accurate. Those 

 of the higher types are somewhat better, some- 

 times good. The forty pages devoted to insects 

 are the best part of the book. Each order has its 

 special chapter, in which some important species 

 is described as fully as the size of the book will 

 allow. Any boy or girl who has studied these 

 chapters thoroughly will not only have some 

 knowledge of them, but, what is far more im- 

 portant, will certainly have a new interest in 

 them and a stronger desire to study the different 

 species and find out then- habits. The style is 

 clear, and the subjects made interesting. The 

 student's mind is not confused by a mass of de- 

 tails, or by unsatisfactory descriptions of a large 

 number of specimens which he can never expect 

 to see, much less examine ; but the brief sketches 

 of a few of the most important forms will 

 awaken in him a desire for wider knowledge. 

 The figures are numerous, averaging almost one 

 to each page ; yet they are so well selected, that, 

 while one grudges so much space, he finds few 

 which he would omit. They are clear and well 

 executed. 



First lessons in zoology. By A. S. Packard. New York, 

 Holt, 1886. 13°. 



