NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 435 



sometimes turn from Philip the theorist to Philip the mathe- 

 matician. Figures will doubtless show the bankruptcy of much 

 apparently joint-stock theory, and we may indeed rejoice in the 

 prospect of such a result. 



General Report on the Investigations in Porto Rico of the U. S. 

 Fish Comm. Steamer 'Fish Haivk' in 1899. By Barton 

 Warren Evermann. Washington : Govt. Printing Office. 



The acquisition of Porto Rico by the United States has been 

 already followed by scientific results of the greatest interest to 

 zoologists, and we may confidently expect the same biological 

 enterprise to be devoted to the study of the Cuban fauna. The 

 present volume is devoted to the fishes of Porto Rico, of which 

 291 species are now enumerated. Of these no fewer than 263 

 were obtained by the 'Fish Hawk' expedition, and thirty-three 

 of them proved to be new species. All the genera and species 

 are fully described, and very many figured ; while forty-nine 

 coloured plates are added, which alone are a revelation to those 

 who have never seen the gorgeous hues of, say, the fishes of a 

 coral-reef. These figures may be accepted as true in colouration, 

 for most of them *' were painted on board the ' Fish Hawk,' the 

 fish being placed in an aquarium as soon as caught, and the life 

 colors gotten before they had undergone any appreciable change." 

 This, of course, is not possible in all cases, and an almost in- 

 surmountable difficulty is experienced, as when, in the case of 

 the Deep-water Gurnard {Peristedion gracile) we are told : — 

 " So rapidly do such fishes as this change color when brought up 

 from considerable depths, that we can never be sure that the 

 colors they exhibit when we first behold them are really those 

 which they possess in the depths which they inhabit ; in fact, we 

 may be quite sure that the colors are not the same, but whether 

 the colors are more or less intense is difficult to determine." 



The curious trivial names applied to animals are often in- 

 explicable. A fish found from Florida Keys to Brazil is known 

 by the appellation of " Margate-fish." According to Mr. Ever- 

 mann, some of the fishermen of the Bahamas came originally 

 from Margate, and thus gave the name of their English port to 

 a fish which they found in the Bahamas. 



