320 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. XXXIV. 
effectual way to overcome the general indifference to the sufferings 
of our fellow-creatures than by spreading a knowledge of their tragic 
lives. EH. 
Structure in the Mammalian Egg. — Professor Flemming! re- 
examines the ovarian eggs of the rabbit and finds that thin sections 
show a real reticulum of stained fibres. Previously, in the fresh 
eggs, he could not decide whether the fibres he saw branched and 
anastomosed or not. In the present preparations the yolk granules 
seem, when smallest, to be imbedded in the fibres, and the author 
thinks they arise there and only later get into the spaces of the 
network. 
In the cavity of the Graafian follicle there is also a reticulum. 
This is regarded as the result of coagulation of the follicular liquid 
by the reagents used. It is not the same in normal as in abnormal 
follicles and is of a much finer mesh in small follicles. The net- 
work in the egg can be distinguished from that in the follicular 
' liquid by its coarser, less regular spaces. 
From the illustrations given, the reader might easily infer that the 
differences between the egg structure and the coagulum were merely 
of degree and not of kind, and see in them support for Alfred 
Fischer's contention that the so-called structure-reticulum is itself a 
coagulum. However, the author believes the egg reticulum to be 
the same as that seen in fresh material, and Mon not the result of 
coagulation. EX X 
Bob? is a story that will appeal strongly to all lovers of 
animals. It will appeal also to lovers of literature. It is the story 
of a poet's mocking-bird told with a delicate humor, a keen and lov- 
ing sympathy. To Lanier, as to many lovers of birds, there was : 
something repugnant in the thought of caging a wild bird; Bob was, 
therefore, an unsought though welcome guest. The reader, however, 
lays down the little volume with the feeling that the bird's liberty 
could not have been sacrificed in a better cause. In this little 
volume, and in the sonnets which form the epilogue, Bob has cer- 
tainly found a memorial such as falls to the lot of few. 
The reader will naturally not look for a scientific study, a care- 
ful record of the number of feathers shed during the moult, or the 
1 Festschrift Carl von Kupffers, Jena, 1899. 
? Lanier, Sidney. Bob. The Story of Our Mocking-Bird. New York, Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, 1899. With sixteen illustrations in color. 64 pp. Price $1.50. 
