NOTES AND QUERIES. 77 



It was a Corn-Crake (Crex pratensis), in decent condition, and half 



through the moult. Winter occurrences of this species are always 



worth recording, especially in connection with south-eastern England, 



where the bird is now rare and not familiar to sportsmen. — F. J. 



Stubbs. 



PISCES. 



Neoceratodus forsteri in Queensland. — This fish, commonly 

 known as the Burnett' Salmon from its flesh, is still abundant in the 

 only habitat in which it survives, the Burnett River, South Queens- 

 land. As an angler was fishing in the river recently, with a net 

 some sixty yards in circumference, he enclosed, and in three hauls 

 captured, no fewer than twenty-four specimens of this unique 

 " lung-fish." Some of the fish were very large, and the weight of a 

 portion was stated at 90 lb. per fish. — James Troubridge Critchell 

 (22, Basinghall Street, E.C.). 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Snakes of Europe. By G. A. Boulenger, LL.D., D.Sc, 

 F.R.S., &c. Methuen & Co., Limited. 



" There is no work in the English language dealing with 

 the Reptiles of Europe." This is the first sentence in the 

 Preface, and is no longer true, for Dr. Boulenger has now ade- 

 quately and authoritatively supplied that want by the publica- 

 tion of this volume. He has also, again, cleared the ground 

 from some early misconceptions, for in his family divisions " the 

 presence or absence of a poison organ is left out of considera- 

 tion," and the definitions of the families are based exclusively 

 on osteological characters. Coloration and markings are also 

 shown to be often but secondary and sometimes misleading 

 guides in the discrimination of species. " If we were to be 

 guided by colour and markings alone, how could we believe that 

 an adult four-lined Coluber quatuorlineatus is of the same species 

 as the handsomely spotted Coluber sauromates ? and yet if we 



