94 REVIEWS 



Water Reptiles of the Past and Present. By S. W. Williston, of 

 the University of Chicago. Chicago: The University of 

 Chicago Press, 1914. Pp. 251, text fig. 131. 



It is a deplorable fact, but nevertheless true, that the popular 

 knowledge of present-day reptilian life is very limited. In the opinion 

 of the author of this volume: "In most persons the word reptile incites 

 only feelings of disgust and abhorrence; to many it means a serpent, 

 a cold, gliding, treacherous, and venomous creature shunning sunlight 

 and always ready to poison." 



Naturally the public's knowledge of extinct reptiles is much more 

 fragmentary and usually confined to inflated newspaper accounts of 

 "monster" dinosaurs, and a few other forms, possibly. In this volume 

 the author attempts to make the reader familiar with one of the most 

 interesting phases of reptilian life, perhaps, the aquatic forms and the 

 modifications that fitted them for this mode of life. Chaps, i-vi define, 

 in an unpretentious manner, the Reptilia and tell of their occurrence 

 in the rocks and their collection and restoration, their anatomy and 

 classification, their distribution geographically and geologically, and 

 the laws some of them have followed in their adaptation to a life in the 

 water. A classification is given in chap, ii that conforms in the main 

 with the ideas of the more conservative paleontologists. The class is 

 divided into the following orders: the Cotylosauria, Chelonia, Thero- 

 morpha, Therapsida, Sauropterygia, Icthyosauria, Squamata, Rhyn- 

 chocephalia, Parasuchia, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, and Pterosauria. To 

 these the Proganosauria, the Protorosauria, and the Thalattosauria are 

 added and are provisionally given ordinal rank. Chaps, vi-xvi take 

 up in order the Sauropterygia, Anomodontia, Ichthyosauria, Progano- 

 sauria, Protorosauria, Squamata, Thalattosauria, Rhynchocephalia, 

 Parasuchia, Crocodilia, and the Chelonia. The various changes these 

 forms have undergone in their adaptation to a life in water, their habits, 

 and, in many cases, interesting bits of history connected with the dis- 

 covery of the specimens, are told in a fascinating manner. 



A few inaccuracies occur in the text and the lettering of some of the 

 figures and some minor additions might be suggested. Among the 

 vertebrate localities given on p. 52 should be included the Pennsylvanian 

 beds from which Case has described vertebrates {Ann. Carnegie Mus., 

 IV [1908]), and on p. 54 might be mentioned the Hallopus beds of Marsh 

 in connection with the Lower Jurassic. 



One of the noteworthy features of the book is the large number of 

 excellent illustrations which are, for the most part, the work of the 



