May 18, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



.787 



The excellence of Dr. Thorp's book is evi- 

 denced by the appearance of a second edition 

 within one year after the printing of the first. 

 The first edition was reviewed in Science, Vol. 

 9, p. 150. Very few changes, further than the 

 correction of a few errors which have been 

 brought to the author's notice, have been made. 

 The book well deserves the success it has 

 achieved. 



W. A. NOYES. 

 GENERAL. 



It is proposed to publish, under the editor- 

 ship of Mr. W. L. Sclater, director of the South 

 African Museum, a series of volumes dealing 

 with the fauna of Africa south of the Zambesi. 

 The northern limits of South Africa, as treated 

 in this work, will be a line drawn from the 

 Cuneue River on the west to the Zambesi at the 

 Victoria Falls, and thence along that river to 

 its mouth. Within it will, therefore, be en- 

 closed the British colonies of the Cape and 

 Natal, the two republics of the Transvaal and 

 the Orange Free State, the southern half of the 

 Chartered Company's territory, German South- 

 west Africa, and that portion of Portuguese 

 East Africa which lies south of the Zambesi. 

 The first volume, by Arthur C. Stark, M.B., 

 containing Part I. of the birds, will shortly 

 appear, and it is hoped that that relating to the 

 mammals, by Mr. Sclater, will be ready for 

 publication during the course of the present 

 year. The work is published by E. H. Porter, 

 7 Princes St., London. 



In The Indians of Southern Mexico Frederick 

 Starr, of the University of Chicago, presents 

 some of the results of his several expeditions 

 to Mexico. The chief objects of these expedi- 

 tions was the study of the physical types of 

 South Mexican Indians. Three methods of 

 work have been followed — measurement, pho- 

 tography and bust making. The tribes studied 

 live among the mountains, and some of them — 

 as the Triquis, Chontals and Juaves — are almost 

 unknown to students. In the photographic 

 work Professor Starr has secured portraits, 

 groups, scenes in daily life, views of houses 

 and towns and of scenery. For portraits plates 

 5x7 inches were used and front and profile views 

 made of each subject ; for full figures and occu- 



pations 5x8 inch plates were used ; for large 

 groups, architectural subjects, villages and 

 landscapes 8x10 inch plates were employed. 

 Hundreds of negatives have been made repre- 

 senting the tribes of the States of Michoacan, 

 Mexico, Flaxcala, Puehla and Oaxaca. From 

 this series a selection has been made for pub- 

 lication. The book contains one hundred and 

 forty-one beautiful photogravure plates, 11x14 

 inches in size, printed on heavy plate paper and 

 well bound. They are accompanied by thirty- 

 two pages of descriptive text. On account of 

 its great cost the work is a limited edition, but 

 it will have permanent value. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The Journal of Geology, Vol. 8, No. 2, Febru- 

 ary-March, 1900. Besides the reviews and 

 notes on recent publications, this interesting 

 number contains : ' The Nomenclature of the 

 Feldspathic Granulites ' by H. W. Turner. 

 The author advocates the naming of the rocks 

 in accordance with their mineral molecular 

 composition and in the case of the feldspathic 

 granulites, to abandon the term plagioclase, 

 which expresses a mixture of two or more 

 kinds of molecules, and substitute the more 

 descriptive terms for the rocks which contain 

 the larger per cent, of the single molecules such 

 as orthosite, anorthosite, albitite, oligosite, an- 

 desinite, labradite, and anorthitite. When 

 quartz is abundant then the terms should be 

 compounded as quartz-orthosite. If an acces- 

 sory mineral term is introduced into the name it 

 should take the adjective form as quartziferous 

 syenite. ' The Geology of the White Sands of 

 New Mexico'; with three plates, by C. L. Her- 

 rick. The geological features of the regions 

 east of the San Andreas and Orange Mountains 

 of New Mexico and those bordering the great 

 white sand plains are discussed, and the opinion 

 is expressed that the white sands are derived 

 from the weathering of the ridges of gypsum 

 and are entirelj' dune sands, that the alkaline 

 and saline deposits of the region are derived 

 from the red beds (Permian and Triassic) and 

 the associated saline and gypsiferous members. 

 The copper deposits are thought to have a 

 similar origin also. The suggestion is offered 



