J 34 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Creatures of Other Days. By the Rev. H. N. 

 Hutchinson, B.A., F.G.S., author of " Extinct 

 Monsters." With illustrations by T. Smit and 

 others, pp. xx. and 270, large crown 8vo., 20 

 plates and 79 figures in text. (London : Chapman 

 and Hall, 1894.) Price 14s. 



It is probable the inducement to write this book 

 lay in the desire to show the appearance of some 

 animals of other days, when re- constructed or 

 restored by a clever artist. It is better to have an 

 ideal animal re-constructed as a picture, from 

 fossil remains, even if the drawing is only approxi- 

 mately correct, than not to have any such picture. 

 It helps the imagination of those, who, from want 

 of knowledge, are unable to construct for them- 

 selves such ideals from a few fossil bones 

 exhibited in a museum case. That all such 

 pictures, whether as casts or drawings, are purely 

 speculative is not denied even by the artists 

 themselves, but with the assistance of what is 

 scientifically known, it is not likely that future 

 designs will vary much in clothing these ancient 

 bones with shapely fleshiness. So we may take it 

 that as a whole the plates in this work are good 

 and far in advance of many such designs previously 

 published. An example of this restoration, as the 

 author calls it, we reproduce, by permission of the 

 publishers, from Mr. Hutchinson's book. Below is 

 a drawing representing a skeleton exhibited in the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington, of a 

 large Anomodont reptile (Pareiasaurus baini), nine 

 feet in length, brought from the Triassic rocks in 



the Karoo strata, South Africa, by Professor 

 H. G. Seeley. The other (on page 135) is also 

 a plate of the same animal " restored " by 

 Mr. T. Smit and the author. 



In simple language Mr. Hutchinson explains his 

 restorations so handsomely figured. His chapters 

 are all interesting, especially those relating to 

 " Some Newly Discovered Dinosaurs or ' Dragons 



of the Prime, Some Ancient Birds " and 



" Horses and their Ancestors." 



On looking through these pages the desire 

 naturally steals over one to have seen these 

 animals alive among their surroundings. Still, it 

 is useless to regret that some of these extraordinary 

 looking and massive creatures have not lingered 

 down to our times. They would long ago have 

 become extinct through the agency of civilised 

 man, who is always on the lookout for something 

 to kill. It was he, and not the semi-barbarous 

 savages inhabiting the same regions, who extermi- 

 nated the rhytina, and practically so the North- 

 American bison. It will be he, if they are not soon 

 specially protected, who will destroy the larger 

 animals of the African continent, which will 

 speedily follow the dodo and the garefowl. 



We trust this book will soon require a second 

 edition, for there are some mistakes — so palpably 

 mistakes— -which require correction, that the author 

 will do well to prepare for an early reissue. On 

 page 109 he says : " This genus probably attained 

 a length of ten or twelve feet " ! One or two con- 

 tradictions also occur, and several rather amusing 

 slips in grammar. Still it will be a useful book to 

 many who would otherwise be left with small con- 

 ception of former creatures of this world. — [J.T. C] 



A Monograph of Lichens found in Britain : being 

 a Descriptive Catalogue of the Species in the 

 Herbarium of the British Museum. By the Rev. 

 James M. Cromeie, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., etc. 

 Part I., pp. viii. and 519 with 74 figures. (London: 

 Printed by order of the Trustees, 1S94.) Price 16s. 



It has always seemed difficult for us to under- 

 stand the unpopularity of lichenology as a study 



Skeleton of an Anomodont Reptile (Pareiasaurus), 9 feet long. 

 (From " Creatures of Other Days.") 



