Miscellaneous Intelligence. 473 



IT. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Icthyologia Ohiensis by C. S. Mafinesque,a verbatim reprint ; 

 by R. E. Call. 8vo, 175 pp. Cleveland, 1899. (The Burrows 

 Brothers Co.) — Rafinesque's genera and species, whether based on 

 actually existing forms or Audubon's cruel jokes, or in later life 

 evolved from his own diseased mind, have been a stumbling block 

 to the systematic zoologist for more than half a century. The 

 extreme rarity of many of his published works has increased the 

 difficulty of recognizing the forms he described and has doubtless 

 often forced subsequent authors to ignore him unwillingly. The 

 late Gr. W. Tryon many years ago republished Rafinesque's con- 

 chological works, and now Dr. Call and his publishers give us 

 the work on American fishes in this handsome volume, issued in a 

 limited edition of 250 numbered copies. The volume contains a 

 brief biographical sketch of Rafinesque, an account of his ichthyo- 

 logical work, a verbatim reprint of the Ichthyologica Ohiensis (of 

 which only eight copies are now known to exist), a bibliography 

 of his papers on fishes, and a reproduction of a previously unpub- 

 lished letter from Rafinesque to Dr. Daniel Drake of Cincinnati, 

 containing a sketch of one of the fishes described. It seems 

 ungrateful to criticise a work of this kind for its omissions, but a 

 general index is much needed, the reprint of the original index of 

 the Icthyologica with references to the genera and English names 

 being almost useless for reference. 



If the " excentric naturalist " could have foreseen the appear- 

 ance, before the end of the century, of this luxurious volume 

 devoted to a reprint of the work to which he gave himself with 

 such prodigality of unrewarded zeal, he might have forgiven and 

 forgotten the neglect and scorn of his cotemporaries and retained 

 his reason through the unhappy later years of his life. s. i. s. 



2. Elementary Physiology ; by Benjamin Moore, M.A. 

 pp. 295. New York, 1899.' (Longmans, Green & Co.)— This 

 elementary text-book differs in several respects from many other 

 books of its class. First, a relatively large portion of the text is 

 devoted to the description of the structure of the animal body. 

 Since the functions of the organism are so closely connected with 

 its morphological characters, a somewhat comprehensive survey 

 of the latter becomes highly essential to a well-conducted course 

 in physiology for beginners. The usefulness of the present text- 

 book is greatly increased by an unusually large number of well- 

 selected illustrations. Second, in the consideration of the various 

 departments of physiology due appreciation of the relative im- 

 portance of the phenomena discussed has usually been shown. 

 Too many of the elementary text-books are unsatisfactory in this 

 respect : they either unduly emphasize certain actions of the body, 

 or omit entirely chapters which do not permit of easy treatment. 

 Professor Moore's little book certainly does not err in the latter 

 respect, and it may even be questioned whether occasional topics 



