276 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Geography of Mammals. By William Lutley Sclater, 

 M.A., F.Z.S., and Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., 

 F.R.S. Kegan Paul, Trench, Tnibner & Co., Ltd. 

 Dr. P. L. Sclater has made the problem of the geographical 

 distribution of animals peculiarly his own. By a circumstance 

 which seldom occurs to most specialists, his son has inherited his 

 tastes, and shares his studies on the subject. Most zoologists 

 will have read, or at all events be cognizant of, the latter's 

 papers on the Geography of Mammals published in ' The Geo- 

 graphical Journal' (1894-97), while Dr. Sclater's communication 

 " On the Distribution of Marine Mammalia " appeared in these 

 pages (1897, pp. 217-28). These together are now republished, 

 with many illustrations and some additional matter. 



This branch of zoological science in its present conception 

 is inseparable with this country and the present century. Dr. 

 Prichard, in his memorable ' Researches into the Physical History 

 of Mankind,' was one of the first to give a reasonable working 

 hypothesis. This was followed by Swainson in his ' Geography 

 and Classification.' In 1857 Dr. Sclater proposed his divisions 

 as applied to Birds before the Linnean Society, which was further 

 elaborated and upheld at the Bristol Meeting of the British 

 Association in 1875. Wallace in the main adopted these views, 

 and they are now generally accepted, subject, of course, to some 

 criticism in detail incidental to all widely accepted generalizations. 

 The main divisions or regions are mostly maintained in the 

 sense originally proposed, though some qualification is to be 

 found in the sub-regions. This is to be particularly noticed in 

 the Ethiopian region, in which the Cape sub-region now includes 

 " the whole country as far north as Angola on the west, and up 

 to the Tana river on the east," and may probably in time be made 

 to include Somaliland as well. Many zoologists have advocated 



