116 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 82. 



Prye's Complete, p. 9, 1895 ; Potter's Ad- 

 vanced, p. 12, 1891 ; Monteith's New Physical, 

 p. 78, and Tarr's Physical, p. 316, 1896. In 

 the last case it has ceased being a picture and 

 has become wholly a diagram. But Prof. Tarr 

 could tell a better fact and save two square 

 inches of space by drawing a proper ' diagram. ' 



But the school texts have no monopoly on 

 this comical berg. In the ' Story of Our Planet, ' 

 by T. G. Bonney, 1893, there are three of them, 

 not so unstable as the others, but still ready to 

 'flop.' And in 'Man and the Glacial Period,' 

 by G. Frederick Wright, p. 18, 1892, and by 

 the same author, the more pretentious work, 

 ' The Ice Age in North America,' 1889, p. 107, 

 this physical impossibility is held in high esteem. 

 In the latter work the author is not content to 

 leave it in the text, but it glares at you in gilt 

 from the back of the book, every time you pass 

 it in its place on the shelf. 



It is truly a relief after looking through this 



list to pick up A. Geikie's Text-book of Geology, 



and J. Geikie's 'Great Ice Age,' and find real 



rational icebergs. 



J. Paul Goode. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 The Boyal Natural History : Mammals. By 



EiCHARD Lydekker. London and New 



York, Frederick "Warne & Co. New York. 



1893-95. 



The mammal part of Lydekker' s Eoyal 

 Natural History is now completed, and most of 

 the bird parts are out also. 



The attempt of the author and publisher to 

 produce a popular 'Natural History,' enter- 

 taining to the general reader and at the same 

 time scientifically accurate, has met with more 

 than the usual measure of success. The work 

 is handsomely gotten up and profusely illus- 

 trated. 



It was hoped that some of the errors and 

 omissions of the original edition would be cor- 

 rected in the American reprint, but no changes 

 whatever have been made. In fact, there is in 

 reality only one edition for both issues are 

 printed from the same type and on the same 

 paper. The only difference is in the outside 

 covers, which in the American issue bear later 

 dates. This should be borne in mind in quoting 



the work, as it is important to give the correcq. 

 date. The last part came out in England before 

 the middle of last year (1895). 



The mammal part covers about 1,500 pages, 

 royal octavo size, and, in spite of numerous in- 

 accuracies, affords the naturalist, student and 

 sportsman the best and most reliable general 

 account yet published of the highest class of the 

 animal kingdom. Since the English edition was 

 reviewed at some length in this journal (Science, 

 April 5, 1895, pp. 387-389, and July 5, 1895, 

 pp. 18-21) it is unnecessary to sa/ anything 

 further about the American issue. If the pub- 

 lishers would get out an American supplement, 

 bringing the matter down to date from the 

 American standpoint, the work would long re- 

 main a standard of reference on the Mammalia. 



C. H. M. 



THE PALPI OF BUTTERFLIES. 



Ueber die Paljien der Bhopaloceren. Ein Beitrag 

 zur Erkenntnis des verwandtschaftlichen Bezie- 

 hungen unter der Tagfaltern. VoN Enzio 

 Eeuter. Acta Soc. Scient. Fennicse. T. 

 xxii. No. 1. Helsingfors, 1896, 4°. 

 In this work, one of the most important recent 

 contributions to our knowledge of the structure 

 and classification of butterflies, the author ex- 

 pands fully the discovery announced by him a 

 few years ago of an area of peculiar character 

 on the inner side of the basal joint of the palpi 

 of these insects, varying greatly in extent and 

 nature in different groups and affording, as he 

 believes, perhaps too confidently, an important 

 test of relationship. That he has not reached 

 his conclusions on any cursory study or meagre 

 material will be evident from this volume of 

 nearly six hundred pages, its accompanying 

 plates, and the statement that he has examined 

 3,557 palpi of 670 species belonging to 302 

 genera, appertaining to all the principal groups 

 except the Hesperidse, which he neglects. 



The structure and clothing of the palpi are 

 given in detail for each genus, with a specifica- 

 tion of the species examined and the number of 

 individuals of each. The characteristics of the 

 scaleless region called the basalfleck are a rippled, 

 pitted surface, covered with conical dermal ap- 

 pendages, and the variations in their extent and 

 character are brought out by this study, which 



