26 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S, Vol. XIV. No. 340. 



list of synonyms, already sufficiently formid- 

 able. In late years there has been an evi- 

 dent inclination among some Mammalogists 

 to unduly magnify, as it would seem, trivial 

 dissimilarities observed among their specimens, 

 and thus greatly increase the number of slightly 

 differentiated individuals elevated to a separate 

 rank, at the risk of reducing the science to one 

 founded on labels and localities, instead of dis- 

 tinctive and prominent characters, and thus a 

 knowledge of the place where an example was 

 obtained becomes at times of more importance 

 for its identification than are the differences that 

 may separate it from its allies. The lack of re- 

 semblances often observed among crania is fre- 

 quently but the individual variations of a type, 

 and taking these for characters upon which to 

 establish a new species is apt to lead to error, 

 and in not a few instances too much reliance 

 has been placed on such slight differences. The 

 same may be said of shades of color, and not a 

 few names in this Synopsis have been given to 

 specimens so closely alike, that one author, in 

 speaking of his key, which was intended to be 

 the means for distinguishing the species, has 

 been obliged to say : It will be necessary to 

 have both skins and skulls in hand, and even 

 then it ivill be impossible to identify some of the 

 forms without actual comparison ivith their nearest 

 allies. The scientific value of such species (?) 

 can only be very questionable at the best, and the 

 elevation to a separate distinctive rank of such 

 intimately related creatures cannot be consid- 

 ered as helpful or beneficial to Mammalogical 

 Science. It can be safely asserted that there is 

 hardly a genus of North American Mammals 

 that does not contain too many named forms, 

 and that the science would be benefited if a 

 considerable number were relegated to their 

 proper place among the synonyms." 



No more would be required to show that the 

 author is not in sympathy with the tendency 

 toward minute accuracy characteristic of the 

 work of to-day ; but this hostile attitude is so 

 insistently brought before the reader that one 

 more allusion to it may be made. At the end 

 of the account of the prairie wolves, rendered 

 exceedingly obscure by the omission of details 

 concerning skulls and teeth (pp. 801-303) occurs 

 the following footnote: "It is difficult to dis- 



tinguish these varieties of the coyote by any 

 description, and still more so by the skins or 

 skulls." 



It is to be regretted that an author who is 

 admittedly unable to present his own views 

 throughout, and who is so obviously at variance 

 with the opinions of others, should not have 

 been content with bringing together as imper- 

 sonally as possible the multitudinous scattered 

 papers that now make the literature of the 

 subject a maze. In the work as it stands, per- 

 sonal opinion, confessedly defective, and com- 

 pilation, often not free from bias, are so blended 

 that neither is convincing ; and considerable 

 knowledge on the part of the reader is required 

 to avoid misunderstanding. 



The book is well printed, though on glazed 

 paper that is probably ill adapted to withstand 

 constant use. This, however, was rendered 

 necessary by the profuse half-tone figures with 

 which the text is illustrated. Throughout the 

 work a tendency to abbreviation is manifested, 

 which, while it may have curtailed the length 

 of the volume by a few dozen pages, has not in- 

 creased the usefulness of the book. The time 

 saved to author and printer by the use of such 

 references as Schleg. Abte. Geb., or S. S. S. does 

 not compensate the reader for that lost in search 

 for the meaning so effectually concealed. Prob- 

 ably the feature of the work which will most 

 forcibly impress those by whom it is most needed, 

 and that which may be said to be its great 

 defect, is the absence of keys. Of these there are 

 none, either to species, genera or higher groups. 

 The diagnoses of the 10 orders, 34 families, 115 

 genera and 998 species and subspecies occupy- 

 about one-third of a page each. In those rela- 

 ting to species and subspecies there is a notice- 

 able lack of detail concerning skulls and teeth ; 

 while the characters given are often compiled in 

 such a manner as to be misleading. The classifi- 

 cation is essentially that of Trouessart, with the 

 order reversed to begin with the marsupials. 

 Species and subspecies are arranged in accord- 

 ance with their supposed affinities, and, as 

 might have been anticipated, the result is 

 frequently less satisfactory than a purely al- 

 phabetic sequence would have been. No allu- 

 sion is made to habits or life histories, and no 

 English names are used except in the table 



