NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 439 



and the Himalayan Range above about 6000 ft., stretching to the 

 south of Tibet, and north of the valley of Yang-tse-kiang as far 

 as the Pacific, and then round Corea and the main islands of 

 Japan. This is doubtless a good working Palsearctic proposal, 

 though the inclusion of the Himalayas is perhaps more novel, 

 and Japan, though orthodox, possesses a considerable Oriental 

 element. Consequently this work is valuable as covering a very 

 wide and interesting area. 



We have been impressed, in consulting these pages, by the 

 wealth of bionomical information that is afforded beyond the neces- 

 sary guidance to the identification of the species. In addition to 

 the range of dispersal, we have the wintering quarters of most of 

 the migratory species, and details of the call-note, song, food, 

 habits, and nidification. Another very strong point is the list of 

 common or trivial names under which the bird is known in its 

 different habitats, an enumeration much fuller than any other 

 with which we are acquainted, and which must prove of the 

 greatest value to the comparative philologist as well as to travel- 

 ling or field naturalists. 



The absence of trinomialism in nomenclature is a prominent, 

 and, to many, a most welcome feature in these pages ; subspecies 

 are admitted when they appertain to the rank of what some style 

 in preference "local races," but we notice that the author prefers 

 to give a separate number to these, as is applied to distinct 

 species. Some difficulty is in this way created in estimating the 

 whole enumeration. Thus Acredula caudata is numbered 223, 

 and the following six subspecies are also numbered 224-229. 



It is quite a relief to be able to demur to a single method in 

 such a publication. It is a vade mecum for the Palsearctic 

 ornithologist, and may well be placed between Newton's 'Dic- 

 tionary' and Saunders's 'Manual.' 



Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific between 1896 and 1899. 

 Vol. I. Vanua Levu, Fiji ; a description of its leading 

 Physical and Geological Characters. By H. B. Guppy, 

 M.B., F.R.S.E. Macmillan & Co., Lim. 



This volume is entirely devoted to an exhaustive dissertation 

 on the geology of the island, but its interest, although primarily 



