78 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
This experiment must rather be directed toward modifications 
of the functional adaptation, which have a very extensive action, 
and whose repetition in the descendants is not hindered by any- 
thing.” 
We can thus only give an indication as to the author’s stand- 
point and argument; his book is one that requires careful study, 
and will not give an adequate reward for hasty perusal, and the 
reader, whether he becomes a convert or opponent to the view of 
inheritance of acquired characters, will at least have acquired a 
digest of the conclusions formed, favourable or otherwise, by 
many of the very foremost and advanced biologists. 
This work appeared originally in French (1906), and later in 
German and Italian. Its translation into English is due to 
American philosophical enterprise. 

The Great Auk: A Record of Sales of Birds and Eggs by Public 
Auction in Great Britain, 1806-1910, with Historical and 
Descriptive Notes. By Tuomas Parkin, M.A., F.L.S., &e. 
Hastings: Burfield & Pennells, Ltd. London: Rowland 
Ward, Ltd. 
Tue design of this booklet is to place on record the par- 
ticulars as to date, ownership, price, and name of purchaser of 
the various specimens of Alca impennis, and of eggs of the 
species which have been sold by auction in Great Britain. This 
has been done with considerable detail, for Mr. Parkin has 
taken great pains and trouble to secure all available information. 
As regards the number of skins and eggs of the Great Auk that 
may be said to be still in existence, the author states, on the 
authority of Mr. Edward Bidwell, that there are eighty skins 
and seventy-three eggs. This publication contains five plates, 
one of the most interesting of which is a photo-block of a gather- 
ing at Stevens’s Auction Rooms on the occasion of the sale of a 
Great Auk’s egg on June 7th, 1910. This might well be 
enlarged and sold separately, as many would lke to hang 
a memento of the well-known sale-rooms with which most 
naturalists and collectors are familiar. 
