400 Soientific Intelligence. ^ 



narrative of a visit to Indian tribes of the Purus River, Brazil, 

 by J. B. Steere. 



The Afton Sulphur Spring is remarkable for the fossil remains 

 discovered in its immediate neighborhood. These are chiefly the 

 teeth of the mastodon and the mammoth, also teeth of the fossil 

 bison and horse ; with ihem occur bones of some recent animals. 

 Stone and bone implements were also found in large numbers in 

 the spring. The conclusion is reached that these deposits owe 

 their existence for the most part to the superstition of the Indians 

 who by their offerings sought to propitiate the spirits of the 

 spring. 



2. The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Lacca- 

 dive Archipelagoes ; edited by J. Stanley Gardiner. Vol. II, 

 Part I, pp. 492-588, 9 pis. (See this Journal, xiii, 321 ; xiv, H ; 

 XV, 240, 488.) — This part includes the results of the studies of 

 some of the smaller collections of the expedition: Alcyonarians, 

 Nudibranchs, Sponge-crabs, Land Planarians, and Lagoon De- 

 posits ; these are by Professor S. J. Hickson, Miss Edith M. 

 Pratt, Sir Charles Eliot, Messrs. L. A. Borradaile, F. F. Laidlaw, 

 J. Stanley Gardiner, and Sir John Murray. Professor Hickson 

 found the alcyonaria to be of more than ordinary interest, as the 

 specimens were obtained from a considerable number of dredg- 

 ings made in several localities over an extensive area, thus afford- 

 ing an opportunity for a study of the variation in form, color, 

 and other features ; hitherto a species often having been founded 

 on a single specimen or on a few from a single locality. Miss 

 Pratt gives valuable results of anatomical investigations and 

 comparative studies of four genera of the group : Sarcophytum^ 

 Lobophytum, Sclerophytiim^ and Alcyonium. k. j. b. 



3. Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British 

 Museum {Natural History), Yol. Ill ; by Eugene W. Gates, 

 assisted by Capt. Saville G. Reid. Pp. xxi, 349 with x plates. 

 London, 1903. — This third volume includes 907 species belong- 

 ing to the Carinatse (Psittaciformes-Passeriforraes) ; it corre- 

 sponds to volumes II and III, already issued, of Dr. Sharpe's 

 Hand-list of the Genera and Species of Birds. 



4. A Hand-list of the Genera and Species of Birds ; by R. 

 Bowlder Sharpe. Vol. IV, pp. xii, 391. London, 1903. — The 

 list of known species of Passeriformes down to the end of the 

 Certhiidse are included in this volume. It is announced that the 

 whole work will be completed with the issue of a fifth volume, 

 which will probably be published in the course of a few months. 



5. Cold Spring Monographs, Nos. I and II. — These mono- 

 graphs give the results of work done at the Biological Labora- 

 tory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences at Cold 

 Spring Harbor, L. I. No. I, by Mabel E. Small wood, is on the 

 Beach Flea, Talorchestia longicornis, with three plates and three 

 text-figures. No. II, by C. B. Davenport, is on the CoUembola 

 of Cold Spring Beach with special reference to the movements of 

 the Poduridse, with one plate. 



