Makch 2, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



345 



the vertebrates." The first half of the four 

 hundred odd pages of text is taken up with an 

 account of the morphology of the vertebrates, 

 while the second half is devoted to a syste- 

 matic review of the group. 



In the first half an introductory four pages 

 defines and illustrates the group of chordates 

 and the position of the vertebrates in the group. 

 There follow four pages of introductory em- 

 bryologjr, dealing in the briefest and most 

 generalized way with the pre-embryonic stages 

 of development, and then eight pages of gen- 

 eral histology. 



The organs of vertebrates are then considered 

 under the four heads of entodermal, ectodermal, 

 mesothelial and mesenchymatous organs. The 

 discussion of each is from the embryological 

 standpoint, but includes a consideration of its 

 adult structure. The space given to an organ 

 is necessarily very little, to the teeth two pages, 

 to the tongue half a page, to the cranial nerves 

 eight and one-half pages. This part of the book 

 closes with an account of the segmentation of 

 the head, followed by a brief account of the 

 early development of the egg of vertebrates 

 (oogenesis, spermatogenesis, cleavage, gastrula- 

 tion) and by a section on the origin of the verte- 

 brates. If one should weave into a single 

 account greatly condensed resumes of Wieder- 

 sheim's ' Comparative Anatomy ' andHertwig's 

 'Text-Book of Embryology,' the result would 

 be very much that which we have here, though 

 Professor Kingsley's combination is skillfully 

 made, clear, .generally accurate and brought 

 up to date. 



The author is to be congratulated on having 

 the courage to give due recognition in the 

 second part of his book to the importance of a 

 knowledge of vertebrate classification. It is 

 further a matter of congratulation that fossil 

 forms have been included. The treatment is 

 the usual one and this part of the book in its 

 arrangement and general typographical make- 

 up reminds one strongly of Sedgwick's transla- 

 tion of Claus's elementary text-book. It is not 

 to be expected that Professor Kingsley has 

 pleased every one in the matter of classification, 

 that he has prepared a concise and useful sum- 

 mary few will question. Families are briefly 

 characterized ; important genera are mentioned ; 



in some cases habitat and common names of 

 genera are added, in other cases only the scien- 

 tific names appear. But few specific names are 

 mentioned. It is unfortunate that the plan of 

 the book renders this part of it so brief. For 

 purposes of identification it cannot be of great 

 use, but as a convenient means of referring 

 generic names to their families it is of distinct 

 value, and hence the mention, merely, of many 

 generic names is to be commended. 



That a book meant for college use should 

 omit references to the literature is a serious 

 blemish. 



The index, unfortunately, includes the ana- 

 tomical and embryological references for the first 

 part of the book only, and the taxonomic terms 

 for the second part only. Thus Cladoselache is 

 referred to page 237, but not to page 173. 

 Even taxonomic terms used in the introductory 

 sections of the systematic part of the book are 

 not fully indexed. Thus Notodelphys is re- 

 ferred to page 287, but not to page 281, where it 

 also occurs ; while Rhinoderma, which occurs 

 on the same page, is not indexed. This should 

 be corrected in a later edition. 



Among many old friends we find some excel- 

 lent new illustrations, and many that are rough 

 sketches. Particularly notewoi thy are the very 

 useful perspective diagrams, such as Fig. 127. 

 Why, on the other hand, Fig. 16, should be 

 thought worth printing, when so many excel- 

 lent figures are available, is a mystery. The 

 reproduction of the original figures is frequently 

 bad, the reference lines and letters being often 

 blurred, the latter sometimes illegible. (Figs. 

 34, 39, 86, 159, 283.) The copied figures are 

 excellently rendered and in other respects the 

 work of the publishers is well done. 



Detailed criticism is perhaps superfluous 

 where so much is good, but one wonders how 

 Professor Kingsley overlooked this (p. 25) with 

 reference to the air bladder of the fishes : ' ' The 

 bladder itself usually lies dorsal to the aorta 

 and urinogenital system next the vertebral col- 

 umn." Does not every fisher-boy know better? 

 That archenteron and stomach are synonymous 

 terms, as implied on page 6, and that the duo- 

 denum is pre-hepatic, as one might infer from 

 reading the statement at the bottom of page 35, 

 are statements needing revision. 



