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> Andes an > 
James d the Amazon; or 
1876.] Recent Literature. 551 
sponge,” whereas the sponge is a many-celled animal, with ciliated epi- 
thelium, and producing eggs and spermatic particles. On page 164 the 
figure of the nervous system of a starfish will scarcely do, as in nature 
but a single nerve is sent to each tay, and the ganglia are not at all as 
represented by the artist. In the section on instinct and intelligence, 
which in the main is excellent, the author remarks of the bee, “ We do 
not find one clever and another stupid.” We had supposed that observers 
had noticed a marked individuality among bees and other social insects. 
As regards the beaver (see page 184), Mr. Morgan has well shown that 
it acts by reason as well as instinctively. “The egg” of the Ameba is 
spoken of on page 191, though no rhizopods are known to reproduce by 
' eggs; for this reason the statement on page 188, that “all animals, with- 
out exception, arise from eggs,” should be modified, as there are whole 
orders of Protozoa which do not produce eggs. On page 201 it is said 
that the “grand characteristic” of the vertebrate embryo is the primi- 
tive stripe, “ which does not exist in the egg of any invertebrate.’ It is 
nown to exist in the eggs of the leech, earthworm, and allied forms, and 
with very rare exceptions in the eggs of all insects yet observed. Still 
this portion of the work is well written, in a clear, lively, and attract- 
lve style, and the book is certainly nowhere dull reading. 
n some respects we are disposed to find fault with the portion on 
classification, though on these points naturalists are of many minds. 
ttainly the many-celled sponges do not belong with the Protozoa, 
nor are they compound Amæœbæ. The Gregarine are not “ the simplest 
animal forms of which we have any knowledge,” though the author re- 
Jects the Monera of Haeckel. The Polyzoa, Brachiopods, and Tunicata 
are retained among the Mollusca, and in fact the classification is not to 
our mind so advanced in its treatment as other parts of the work. The 
old division of Entomostraca is retained, though Limulus represents quite 
a different division of Crustacea. On page 276 the lobster, represented 
by a time-honored English cut, is called Astacus marinus. The Arachnida 
are by the author provided with “ antennæ,” though they do not exist in 
nature. Much space is devoted to the vertebrates, as seems necessary in 
such a book as this, which has many useful features about it adapting 
It for use in schools. The three hundred and fifty wood-cuts are in al- 
Most every case, we should judge, borrowed from other works, and a 
larger number represent European animals than is suitable in a book de- 
- 'gned for use by American youth. 
Fy SENT Books Anp Pamputets. — Practical Botany, Structural and Systematic, 
stag Portion being an Analytical Key to the Wild Flowering Plants, Trees, 
bs, Ordinary Herbs, Sedges, and Grasses of the Northern and Middle United 
es east of the Mississippi. By August Keehler. Copiously Illustrated. New 
Henry Holt & Co, 1876. 12mo, pp. 400. $3.00. 
_ Across the Continent of South America. By 
fea A. M. Third edition, revised and enlarged, containing Notes of a 
‘Journey across the Continent from Para to Lima and Lake Titicaca. With 
