185 ) 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



In the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Sea, being 

 the Experiences and Observations of a Naturalist in Australia, 

 New Guinea, and the Moluccas. By Kichard Semon. Mac- 

 millan & Co., Limited. 



This is a very welcome translation of the itinerary and 

 biological observations of a naturalist in — zoologically speaking 

 — some of the most interesting regions of the world. Of the 

 Malay Archipelago we have now a charming literature, which, we 

 might say, was begun by Wallace, and has been continued since 

 the publication of his well-known eastern travels. Of Australia 

 we would fain know more. Its natural history early incited 

 Bennett and Gould; Lumholtz has given us a good book ; Saville 

 Kent's recent work is well known ; but the subject is far from 

 exhausted. As Mr. Semon observes, Australia to the zoological 

 explorer " will prove Eldorado, unequalled by anything else. For 

 so singular are some aspects of the flora and fauna of Australia 

 as to justify one in opposing the Australian region to all the rest 

 of the world, and practical reasons only have prevented men of 

 science from arranging their hand-books accordingly." 



One great advance in the study of zoology is emphasized by 

 the object-lesson of the modern travelling naturalist. The 

 general mise- en-scene of tropical forests and coral seas is now 

 familiar to the ordinary tourist and the most cursory reader; 

 while the pure and simple collector holds a subordinate place in 

 the estimation of naturalists, for men now travel across the globe 

 to study the life-history of one animal form. Embryological 

 studies in oviparous-mammals, and marsupials, and, above all, 

 the developmental history of the " Australian lung-fish " (Cera- 

 todus forsteri) , which now inhabits but two small rivers of the east 

 coast, were the main objects of Mr. Semon's visit to the 

 Australian continent ; and of Ceratodus in these pages we learn 

 much, and more will be found in the author s strictly scientific 



