Miscellaneoits Intelligence. 191 



laboratory guide. As in the earlier work, the type system is fol- 

 lowed, a single representative of each of the more important 

 groups of vertebrates being taken up. It contains not merely 

 directions for the work in the laboratory but also short descrip- 

 tions of parts difficult to study, with brief statements as to func- 

 tion and morphological significance. Each dissection is quite 

 independent of the others, so that the animals can be studied in 

 any sequence. Like its predecessor, this book is sure to form a 

 valuable addition to the already numerous laboratory guides. 



w. r. c. 

 12. The Life of Animals. The Mammals ; by Ernest Inger- 

 soll. Pp. xi + 555, with numerous illustrations, including 15 

 colored plates. New York, 1906 (The Macmillan Company). — A 

 popular work, written in an entertaining style, containing a store- 

 house of facts about the familiar as well as the less generally 

 known animals. These facts of general interest are brought 

 together from widely scattered scientific treatises, books of 

 travel, and reports of hunters. Each of the groups of mammals 

 from the highest to the lowest is taken up in turn with illustra- 

 tions, descriptions, and anecdotes of some of the representatives. 

 Many of the illustrations are from original photographs and 

 drawings and greatly enhance the value of the work. w. r. c. 



II. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Recent Text-boohs on Astronomy. — A Compendium of 

 Spherical Astronomy, with its Applications to the Determination 

 and Reduction of Positions of the Fixed Stars; by Simon New- 

 comb. Pp. viii, 444. New York and London : 1906 (The 

 Macmillan Company). 



An Introduction to Astronomy ; by Forest Ray Moulton. 

 Pp. xviii, 557, with 24 tables and 50 figures. New York: The 

 Macmillan Company. London: Macmillan & Company Ltd., 

 1906. 



Laboratory Astronomy; by Robert Wheeler Wilson. Pp. 

 ii, 189, with 89 figures and 7 tables. Boston, New York, Chicago, 

 London: 1905 (Ginn & Company). 



The works here noticed meet the needs of students of Astron- 

 omy from the Nautical Almanac Office to the High School, 

 except for the computation of orbits and perturbations. 



The volume by Newcomb is the most important work in prac- 

 tical Astronomy that has appeared in the present generation and 

 is well worthy of the reputation of its author. Aside from its 

 intrinsic merit, it is the more valuable as " the first of a pro- 

 jected series having the double purpose of developing the ele- 

 ments of practical and theoretical Astronomy for the special 

 student of the subject, and of serving as a hand-book of conven- 

 ient reference for the working Astronomer in applying methods 

 and formulae." 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. XXII, No. 128.— August, 1906. 

 13 



