116 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



often shown us more than all our efforts and fatigues in search of 

 bionomical observation, and this fact has been clearly recognized 

 and made use of by our author. Why is it that in zoology the best 

 and most patient observations are often made by ornithologists ? 



Atlas of Practical Elementary Zootomy : being a Revised Edition 

 of the Zoological Portion of the Atlas of Practical Ele- 

 mentary Biology. By G. B. Howes, LL.D., F.E.S. 

 Macmillan & Co. 



Most of us will call to mind the laconic answer given by Huxley 

 to a controversialist of biological aspirations, " Take a cockroach 

 and dissect it," and if we only studied animals by themselves 

 first, and read the books afterwards, there can be little doubt of 

 the vast advantage to our biological knowledge. To-day we too 

 often only see what the books tell us to observe, while the books 

 themselves are not unfrequently built up on other writings. 

 Prof. Howes leaves no doubt as to his meaning. " Lecturing, 

 which is mere recapitulation, in advance of facts to be later learnt 

 by work in the laboratory, is useless, if not mischievous." This 

 book is a guide to the Huxleyean " Type System," and the late 

 Prof. Huxley, writing a preface to its first edition in 1885, 

 observed : "No doubt the direct instruction of a teacher is very 

 valuable ; but with the aid of this Atlas, I think that an intelli- 

 gent student, who is unable to obtain that advantage, will find 

 no difficulty in working through ' The Course of Practical In- 

 struction in Elementary Biology ' by himself." 



Twenty-four plates are given, detailing the anatomy and 

 physiological organs of Frog, Crayfish, Earthworm, Snail, 

 Fresh-water Mussel, Fresh-water Polyp, and some Unicellular 

 organisms. The student who, with these easily acquired animals, 

 these plates, a very moderate dissecting apparatus, and a pair of 

 fairly intelligent eyes, does not find a key to the mysteries of 

 animal life must have mistaken his vocation. 



Bird Hunting on the White Nile. By Harry F. Withers y. 

 The Office of ' Knowledge.' 



Mr. Witherby has great opportunities, and, as an ornitho- 

 logist, he certainly tries to make the best of them. He has 



