NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 187 



side by side on their book-shelves for handy reference, in days 

 when a zoologist is expected to know everything about some- 

 thing, and something about everything. 



" In accordance with the scheme of the Series generally, the 

 order followed runs from the lowest forms and the Katite Birds 

 upwards; the Carinate Birds being divided, after Dr. Gadow's 

 plan, into two Brigades or Main Sections, and these again into 

 Legions, Orders, and so forth." The contents of the book are 

 practically an introduction to the birds of the world, and, 

 although such encyclopedic completeness is impossible in a 

 single volume, a distinct success has been achieved in referring 

 to so many species within the confines of 587 pages. All these 

 works have their strong points and their limitations. The first 

 are found in the discriminative care by which a capable ornitholo- 

 gist sifts and rejects recorded narratives; the second inevitably 

 postulates that much is necessarily overlooked. We should have 

 been glad to see under the subject " Struthio camelus" some 

 reference to Mr. Cronwright Schreiner's communication on this 

 bird which appeared in our pages in 1897, and which we have 

 read elsewhere, and, have also been told, corrected some previous 

 misconceptions. Nevertheless we are thankful for a book that 

 tells us so much in a small space, and the evident thorough work 

 of the author is supplemented by the proof-readings of Mr. 

 Howard Saunders and Dr. B. B. Sharpe. 



One extract must be given ; it expresses a fundamental truth 

 little regarded in current zoological philosophy : — " It cannot be 

 denied that Genera and Species are merely * convenient bundles,' 

 and that divisions of either, if carried too far, defeat the object 

 for which Classification is intended. Genera are only more 

 distinct from Species, and Species from Kaces, because the inter- 

 vening links have disappeared ; and, if we could have before us 

 the complete series which, according to the doctrine of Evolution, 

 has at some time existed, neither Genus nor Species would be 

 capable of definition, any more than are Races in many cases ; 

 while the same remark will apply to the larger groups." This 

 might well become the esoteric faith of every describer and 

 monographist ; most naturalists admit the truth of the doctrine, 

 but specific and generic controversy is not yet a thing wholly of 

 the past. 



