BIBLIOGRAPHY. 57 
fisheries, the oyster and its culture, the rearing of snails for market, and con- 
cluding with a few words on the prices that have been paid for remarkable 
shells. 
The anatomical sections are clearly written and well up-to-date, and as 
might be expected, the treatment of the radula is specially complete ; we are 
acquainted with no work in which the account of this organ is so satisfactory. 
Three chapters are devoted to geographical distribution, and the more strik- 
ing forms characteristic of the different regions of the world are enumerated. 
The last one-hundred-and-fifty pages are devoted to a systematic survey of 
the whole sub-kingdom, in which the definitions of the groups are given as 
far down as families, with abundant illustrations of typical species. Particu- 
larly instructive are two series of drawings depicting the transition of the 
shell, from the pointed spiral to the almost flattened plate, and also its 
gradual covering by the mantle in the Tectibranchiata. 
The Brachiopoda are treated from two distinct points of view—the mor- 
phological, with special reference naturally to the recent forms, by Mr. A. E. 
Shipley ; and the palzeontological by Mr. F. R. Cowper Reed. Both are in 
their different ways admirable. 
We cannot conclude without a word in praise of the illustrations in the 
work ; a very large proportion of them are new—a most praiseworthy con- 
trast to the practice of reproducing figures time after time, which is only too 
prevalent. This fact naturally renders the volume somewhat more expensive 
than it would otherwise have been, but it is anything but dear. We com- 
mend it to all our members who have a mind for the scientific aspects of 
their study, which alone can render the collection of shells a dignified and 
intellectual pursuit. 
The Manchester Museum, Owens College. Museum Hand- 
books. Catalogue of the Booksand Pamphlets in the Library, arranged 
according to subjects and authors. By William E. Hoyle. Manchester: 
Cornish. 302 pp. 8vo.; price 2/6. 
The Library of the Manchester Museum and its collections are, we learn 
from the regulations printed on the cover of this volume, ‘‘ open to persons 
desirous to make use of them for the purposes of study.” To such it must be 
of great importance to be able to ascertain in their own homes whether the 
works they desire to consult are in the library or not, and to obtain an 
accurate idea of the resources of the library on any given topic. Such know- 
ledge may save many a fruitless journey and suggest many a productive one. 
To facilitate the work of consultation, the catalogue has been drawn up 
in duplicate: in the first section the books are arranged according to sub- 
jects, and the difficulty of deciding in doubtful cases on the class to which the 
book should be assigned is met by a liberal use of cross references. Looking 
for ‘Mollusca,’ we find them treated under ‘Paleontology,’ and also under 
‘Zoology.’ This division may seem somewhat antiquated when so much 
stress is laid on the necessity of studying recent and fossil forms side by side, 
but it was perhaps advisable in the case of a museum where the respective col- 
lections are in the main separated. Thetitles of books and pamphletsbearing on 
