# Miscellaneous Intelligence. 303 



breeds of cattle, its stock raising, the extent of variations in 

 breeds, cattle diseases, etc. Its photograph .plates (collotypes) 

 are 45 in number and are mostly devoted to the various breeds of 

 cattle of different parts of India. Besides these there are other 

 plates containing sketches of grasses and two colored maps illus- 

 trating the orographic features and political divisions of India. 

 Prof. Wallace, in the course of his descriptions of the cattle of 

 India, states the remarkable fact that "however white the hair 

 may be, all but a very small percentage have jet-black skins un- 

 derneath." An animal with a white skin is considered to be 

 weakly. "There is little doubt," he says, "that the black skin 

 has much to do with the ability of Indian cattle to work in the 

 sun without suffering as light-skinned cattle do." White-skinned 

 cattle are liable to have their skins sunburnt, and sometimes 

 affected by an eruption. So also " the skins of sheep, pigs, buffa- 

 loes and horses under domestication in India are usually black or 

 dark." The best breeds of sheep have a white skin over the 

 body, it being protected by the thick wool, but the head, in that 

 case, is frequently black. The black color causes the skin to 

 absorb more heat than the white skin, but also to give off more 

 heat, and in addition the temperature is diminished much by 

 evaporation from the skin. The natives of India appear to per- 

 spire much less than Europeans, but because more of the perspira- 

 tion passes from them in the form of vapor. 



3. Eclectic Physical Geography ; by Russell Hitman - . 382 

 pp. 12mo, with numerous colored maps and other illustrations. 

 Cincinnati, 1888. (Van Antwerp & Bragg). — This volume, 

 although small, gives an excellent review of the different topics 

 embraced under the head of Physical Geography. The defini- 

 tions and explanations are clear and well presented, though some- 

 times too brief ; the illustrations are very numerous and of supe- 

 rior quality, and the presswork and general style of the volume 

 of high credit to the printers and publishers. 



Index to the Literature of the Spectroscope by A. Tuckerman, Ph.D. 424 pp. 

 8vo. 1888. Smithsonian Institution, No. 658. Washington, D. C. 



The Constants of Nature. Part I, A table of specific gravity for Solids and 

 Liquids. New edition revised and enlarged. By F. W. Clarke, Chief Chemist 

 U. S. Geological Survey. 410 pp. 8vo. 1888. Smithsonian Institution, No. 659. 

 Washington, D. C. 



Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. VII, 

 Part 2. pp. 261 to 464, closing the volume. New Haven, Conn., 1888. The 

 pages are occupied by six chemico-physiological papers covering 1 80 pages, by 

 Prof. R. H. Chittenden, and M. T. Hutchinson, Prof. C. and J. A. Blake, Prof. C. 

 and II. H. Whitehouse, Prof. C. and P. K. Bolton, Prof. C. and H. M. Painter, 

 and Prof. C. and G-. W. Cummins. These papers are followed by one of 16 

 pages on New England Spiders of the Family Ciniflonidas, by J. H. Emertou, 

 illustrated by three plates — 9 to 11. 



OBITUARY. 



Silas Stearns. — Mr. Silas Stearns, ichthyologist, and an effi- 

 cient agent of the United States Fish Commission, died in Ashe- 

 ville, N% C, August 2, 1888. He was born at Bath, Maine, on 

 the 13th of May, 1859, and in the schools of that place received 

 his early education. 



