320 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Cambridge Natural History. Vol. VIII. Amphibia and Reptiles. By 

 Hans Gadow, M.A., Ph.D., &c. Macmillan & Co., Limited. 



This is a very welcome addition to the naturalist's library. In a 

 general way the subject has been treated in the different serial zoo- 

 logical publications which have appeared during late years, but then 

 the limit of space has been defined by the publisher rather than the 

 limits of the subject by its author, while now a volume of some 650 

 pages has been devoted to it. 



Dr. Gadow has done his work very thoroughly, and one very 

 prominent and useful feature is to be found in the outline maps, which 

 give at a glance the distribution of the larger groups and families. It 

 is abundantly evident that this method is far clearer and much more 

 convincing to the reader than a verbal enumeration of zoo-geographical 

 provinces and regions, which are now no longer uniform in use and de- 

 scription. Thus when we come to the Frogs (lianida;) a glance at the 

 map at once shows the startling fact to the uninitiated that practically 

 none are found in Australia, and that they are also absent from the 

 larger and southern portion of South America. We are also glad to 

 see the correction of some popular and unexpected errors. We have 

 all read and re-read Wallace's charming ' Malay Archipelago,' which 

 has even a greater charm to those who liave visited the region, and we 

 well remember the account and figure of the Bornean " Flying Frog " 

 (FJiacophorus parJalis). Specimens from Wallace's collection are in 

 the British Museum, and it appears that the dimensions have been in- 

 correctly given. It now appears that instead of the webs of all the feet 

 together measuring about twelve square inches, they only measure three 

 square inches. " By some unfortunate oversight Wallace must have 

 mixed up the total expanded area with that of the four hands and feet." 



In this publication the subjects are not restricted to " living 

 animals," and the Dinosauria receive fuller treatment than that of the 

 usual inscription on a zoological tombstone. We are no longer living 

 in a Reptilian age, the sun of which has probably set for ever so far as 

 this planet is concerned ; and the practice has been too much to neglect 

 the dead giants of the past in describing the living pigmies of the present. 

 Dr. Gadow has not followed this unfortunate method of obscuration. We 

 notice in respect to the " Snake-eating Cobra" [Opliiophagus elaps), it 

 is stated that it reaches the enormous length, for a poisonous snake, of 

 twelve feet or more. In 'The Zoologist' for 1875 (p. 4625) will be 

 found the record of one brought from the Malay Peninsula, which was 

 measured by Dr. Giinther, and attained a length of 13 ft. 2 in. 



This is really a book for reference, and maintains the high character 

 of the series. The illustrations are excellent, and the drawings on 

 wood have been, with few exceptions, made by Miss Durham, mostly 

 from living specimens. 



