384 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Text-book of Zoology , treated from a Biological Standpoint. By 

 Dr. Otto Schmeil. Translated from the German by 

 Rudolph Rosenstock, M.A. ; edited by J. T. Cunning- 

 ham, M.A. Part I. — Mammals. Adam & Charles Black. 



Such a series of publications on zoology — text-books, hand- 

 books, introductions, manuals, &c. — is now appearing, that it 

 seems only possible to suggest at present what shall be considered 

 canonical, and what not. And this estimate becomes more difficult 

 every day, especially when, as in the present work, the bionomical 

 element is a pronounced feature ; for now many brilliant, some 

 hazardous, and a multitude of strange theories more or less enter 

 the purview of every author. The editor — Mr. Cunningham — 

 in his preface, opines that even in this volume, in reference to 

 colouration, the author's idea is perhaps carried too far. But Dr. 

 Schmeil advances no particular theory, and is anxious throughout 

 to exhibit adaptability in structure to environmental conditions 

 in a way that could have met with the approval of the — pre- 

 sumably—defunct teleologist, that ought not to offend the 

 strictest "selectionist," and may be countenanced by the "neo- 

 Lamarckian." 



But these remarks, though legitimate to a general considera- 

 tion, in no way express the aim of the book, which is one of 

 the most interesting and suggestive to place in the hands of 

 school-children, to whom zoology is not an end, but a part of a 

 liberal education. It has the merit of producing thought, rather 

 than the necessity of remembering details. Most children can 

 repeat that a Cat " has nine lives," but how few can explain the 

 operation of what is styled " always falling on its legs." Dr. 

 Schmeil comes to the rescue : — " When a man in falling tries to 

 support himself on his arms, he may easily break them ; for, as 

 he possesses clavicles, and needs them, his arms are firmly 

 (without elasticity) connected with the shoulder-girdle, so that 



