198 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



only means "crow" in Greek, not Latin as well, as here stated. 

 We fail, also, to see why Gesner's common-sense derivation of 

 arquata in the Curlew's name from arcus (bow) should be set 

 aside, as it corresponds so closely with the Greek -vovywiw; (new 

 moon) and the Icelandic "nefboginn" (bow-neb) applied to this 

 bird. Apropos of changes in names, it must be admitted that it 

 is a good idea to have given the reasons for these, as is here 

 done, in the Appendix which terminates the book ; in that which 

 precedes this are given the species which are rejected as British 

 owing to the evidence being, in the Committee's opinion, in 

 sufficient. There are several errors here ; it is not true, for 

 instance, that the wild Canary is "imported in large numbers,' 

 and of the American birds cited few are ever imported at all 

 while as to Baer's Pochard, we happen to know that at the time 

 of the occurrence in 1901 the few previously sent over were 

 all safely interned at the Zoo. 



Fauna of British India. Mollusca; Freshwater Gastropoda and 

 Pelecypoda. By H. B. Preston, F.Z.S. London: Taylor 

 & Francis. 1915. 



The present volume of the ' Fauna,' giving a complete 

 systematic account of the freshwater Mollusca of our Eastern 

 dominions, is a worthy companion to Mr. Gude's, recently 

 reviewed in these pages, on the land Mollusca. The work is 

 naturally only about half the size of the latter, the number of 

 forms to be dealt with being so much smaller. The introduction 

 contains some interesting bionomical notes, in compiling which 

 the author has been, he says, indebted to Mr. B. B. Woodward's 

 book ' The Life of the Mollusca ' ; but he has some interesting 

 original observations, notably the record of Limncea and 

 Pisidium in Tibet at an altitude of 14,500 ft., apparently a 

 record in molluscan life. The difficulty in drawing a line 

 between brackish and freshwater Mollusca is also of interest 

 bionomically, and Mr. Preston has solved it by generally in- 

 cluding marine genera, whose members are liable to be forced 

 into freshwater life by such conditions as occur in the Gangetic 

 delta, where pools may become fresh by reason of excessive 

 rainfall or by the silting-up of their saltwater channels. 



