300 The National Geographic Magazine 



temperature, forming Part II of the 

 volume, are deferred until the pupil is 

 better prepared to understand them. 

 Part III deals with South America, 

 Part IV with Europe, and Part V with 

 Asia, Africa, Australia, and Island 

 Groups. The maps and illustrations, 

 of which there are 500, are well chosen 

 and are very clearly and beautifully 

 reproduced. 



Through the Heart of Patagonia. By 

 H. Hesketh Prichard, F. R. G. S., 

 F. Z. S., etc. Targe 8vo, pp. i-xvi, 

 1-346, with 40 plates and 3 maps. 

 New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1902. 

 In 1897 DrF. P- Moreno stumbled on 

 a piece of skin containing bony tuber- 

 cles, which had been found with human 

 remains in a Patagonian cave; the char- 

 acter of the integument and the associa- 

 tions suggested that it was from a My- 

 lodon (or Giant Ground Sloth) of Ter- 

 tiary facies perhaps still surviving, and 

 Dr F. Ameghino used it as the type of 

 a new genus and species, Neomylodon 

 listai. A portion of the skin was taken 

 by DrOtto Nordenskjold; another piece 

 passed into the hands of Prof. E. Ray 

 Lancaster, Director of the British Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, and Dr A. 

 Smith Woodward, who made a critical 

 study, as did also Dr S. Roth, who identi- 

 fied it with a Pampean genus related to 

 Mylodon and renamed it Grypotherium 

 listai. The find, in associations indi- 

 cating that the animal was stabled in 

 the cave and fed by early man, together 

 with attendant rumors that it had been 

 seen alive, naturally attracted much at- 

 tention. Among those interested was 

 Mr C. Arthur Pearson, of London, who 

 financed an expedition in charge of Mr 

 Prichard to search for further traces of 

 the animal. This expedition failed of 

 its primary purpose, since neither re- 

 mains nor living specimens of Grypothe- 

 rium were found ; yet it was successful 

 in practically demonstrating that the 



creature no longer lives in its former 

 range, and also in extending explora- 

 tion of the southern Andean region. 

 Among the results of permanent value 

 may be noted surveys about the eastern 

 portion of Lake Buenos Aires; explora- 

 tions and surveys about Lake Argen- 

 tine, including the discovery of Lake 

 Pearson ; the finding of a new puma 

 (Felis co?icolor fiearsoni) ; various notes 

 on the habitat and habits of Patagonian 

 animals; a study of " The first attitude 

 of wild animals toward man; " and use- 

 ful ethnologic observations, chiefly on 

 the Tehuelche tribe. The sumptuous 

 report details these results, and also 

 forms an interesting record of travel 

 and adventure, satisfactorily illustrated 

 by reproductions of the author's photo- 

 graphs, as well as by more fanciful 

 sketches in color and tint; while a full 

 Appendix contains reprints of the prin- 

 cipal papers on Grypotherium, together 

 with a note by the author on the native 

 legends, a description of the new puma 

 by Oldfield Thomas, and a list of plants, 

 with their localities. A suggestive 

 chapter on the future of Patagonia 

 touches on the resources of this portion 

 of the great country, Argentina, some- 

 times of late fitly styled the United 

 States of South America. The book is. 

 handsome, despite the somewhat infe- 

 rior typography and laboz/red orthogra- 

 phy of the English press. 



WJM. 



Three Notable Works on Alaska, the 



results of extended explorations in the 

 territory in 1901, have been published 

 by the Survey : ' ' Preliminary Report 

 on the Ketchikan Mining District," by 

 Alfred H. Brooks, Ketchikan; ' ' Recon- 

 naissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotze- 

 bue Sound," by way of Dall, Kanuti, 

 Allen, and Kowak rivers, by Walter C. 

 Mendenhall ; ' ' Reconnaissance of North- 

 western Portion of Seward Peninsula," - 

 by Arthur J. Collier. 



