No. 385.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 65 
sionally published in both Bulletins and Memoirs, but the field of 
activity of the society is, for the most part, limited to two divisions 
of the science of anthropology. 
Professor Manouvrier, in Bulletin No. 2, Vol. ix, reports the exist- 
ence of a remarkable case of ichthyosis in a peasant forty-seven years 
of age, from the Department of Lot-et-Garonne. Nearly the entire 
surface of his body is covered with scales, generally quadrangular, 
and in places imbricated. The deformity is congenital and has not 
affected the health of the subject. That it is a case of atavism is 
suggested, but the supposition cannot be proven. M. Zaborowski 
gives an interesting account of the affinities of the tribes of Western 
Siberia, particularly of the ancient peoples whose skeletons are found 
in the dolmens of that region. It is a relief to note that a very mod- 
erate number of measurements is considered sufficient to establish 
the racial type ; brevity is the soul of craniology. After a careful 
investigation, in which he rejected the usual indices, M. R. Anthony 
arrived at the conclusion that the variations of the sternum in the 
mammalian series can best be represented by an index derived from 
the breadth and thickness of the presternum. This index is higher 
and more ape-like in the Australians, Negritoes, and Hottentots 
(above 40) than among Europeans (32.4). Dr. Adolphe Bloch pre- 
sents the results of his investigations upon the number of phalanges 
in the fifth toe of the human foot. He states that the anomaly of 
two phalanges instead of three occurred, according to Pfitzner, in 
37.2 per cent of the 799 feet examined. Dr. Bloch’s observations — 
upon a smaller series resulted in the discovery of so large a number 
of cases that the toe with two bones seemed to be the normal one, 
and the toe with three phalanges the anomaly. He inclines to 
accept Testut’s opinion that the reduction in the number of phalanges 
in the fifth and other toes is a progressive modification due to the 
adoption of the erect attitude by man. FRANK RUSSELL. 
ZOOLOGY. 
The Birds of Indiana. — The previous catalogues of Indiana 
birds having become antiquated and out of print, Mr. Amos W. 
` Butler has given us the results of twenty-one years of study of the 
birds of his native state in a stout volume of 673 pages,’ forming a 
1 Butler, Amos W., Indianapolis, Ind. 7%e Birds of Indiana. A descriptive 
catalogue of the birds that have been observed within : the state, 
with an account : 
