■24 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 79. 



The jack rabbits have at present little com- 

 mercial value ; their skins are used to some ex- 

 tent for furs, and many of the animals are sent 

 to the markets of the larger cities and sold as 

 food. It is estimated that some 600,000 are an- 

 nually consumed in the United States, the 

 greater part being sent to the larger Eastern 

 cities. It is believed that ' ' commercial utiliza- 

 tion is the most promising and least expensive 

 method of keeping these pests in check in lo- 

 calities where they are unusually abundant; 

 but returns from this source will only partially 

 offset the losses sustained on account of injuries 

 to crops." 



"In America," says Dr. Palmer, "the rab- 

 bit question never has, and probably never 

 will assume the proportions it has assumed in 

 Australia. The jack rabbits of the United 

 States are all indigenous species and ordinarily 

 are held in check by natural enemies and by 

 disease. Although local conditions may some- 

 times favor their temporary increase, yet 

 natural agencies aided by the persistent and 

 constantly increasing war of extermination are 

 gradually, but none the less surely, diminish- 

 ing their numbers. ' ' 



Incidentally some account is given of the rab- 

 bit pest in Australia, New Zealand and Tas- 

 mania, due to the introduction of the common 

 rabbit of Europe {Lepis cuniculus), about thirty 

 years ago, for purposes of sport. As is well 

 known, they multiplied so rapidly as to become 

 soon a very serious pest. Dr. Palmer cites 

 statistics showing that about $5,500,000 had 

 been expended prior to 1888 for their destruc- 

 tion, and in building several thousand miles of 

 rabbit-proof fences for the protection of crops. 



J. A. A. 



Catalogue of Fossil Fishes of the British Museum. 



Vol. III. By Arthur Smith Woodward, 



F. C. S., F. Z. S. 



Since the publication of the first volume of 

 this series the student of vertebrate morphol- 

 ogy, not less than the specialist, has felt that 

 he was to be indebted to Mr. Arthur Smith 

 Woodward for an admirable text-book on the 

 entire subject of Fishes. Critics have univer- 

 sally commended the catalogue, from its general 

 plan down to the details of its text figures and 



plates, a work which only could have been 

 written by one who has had the long exper- 

 ience, the broad judgment, to say nothing of 

 the industry, of its author. 



The volume which has recently appeared 

 deals with those groups of fishes popularly 

 known as Mesozoic Ganoids, and reviews this 

 subject in such a way that the fourth volume of 

 the series, beginning with the ' Teleosts,' may 

 complete the catalogue. It is understood that a 

 supplememtary volume will thereafter be pub- 

 lished to supply omissions and to bring the en- 

 tire subject up to date. Those only who know 

 the confusion which has existed in our know- 

 ledge of extinct Ganoids — confusion due to a 

 large and scattered literature, faulty nomen- 

 clature, imperfect and partial study — can ap- 

 preciate the degree of order which has been 

 infused into the entire subject by the present 

 work. Indeed, one may well believe that this 

 volume could not be possible had its author not 

 felt it necessary to visit every noteworthy col- 

 lection, at home and abroad, for the purpose 

 of making comparison of his material. 



The present volume begins with a review of 

 the structural relations of the following groups : 

 the Palseoniscoids of the Trias, Catopterus and 

 Dictyopyge; the Protospondyli, Semionotids, Ma- 

 crosemiids, Pycnodonts,Eugnathids,Amiids, Pachy- 

 cormids ; the Aetheospondyli, Aspidorhynchids, 

 Lepidosteids ; the Isospondyli, Fholidophorids, 

 Leptolepids. Then follows the catalogue proper, 

 a careful review of the systematic side of the sub- 

 ject, with complete reference lists and descrip- 

 tions, illustrated by numerous text figures. 

 Among these are a number of new and ad- 

 mirable restorations, including those of Dape- 

 dAus, Cleithrolepis, Eugnathus, Caturus, Hypso- 

 cormus, Aspidorhynchus and Leptolepis. There 

 are also eighteen plates illustrating those speci- 

 mens in the Museum which prove of especial in- 

 terest. A careful review of the book brings out 

 clearly that the treatment of the subject is a 

 purely morphological one, and that the most 

 recent studies on the modes of evolution have 

 been brought into good use. General conclu- 

 sions have, in the majority of cases, been drawn 

 from the study of progressive series, as, for ex- 

 ample, where the author shows that "the most 

 advanced stage of the endoskeleton (of Neor- 



