NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 239 



seen by him at Amsterdam in 1900 ; there was one recently at our 

 Zoo with white fore-paws and the breast patch much extended 

 downwards, by the way. He says the fur had "a yellowish tinge 

 quite distinct from the pure snowy whitness of a Polar Bear " ; 

 but, as a matter of fact, Polar Bears, at any rate when adult, 

 are generally creamy or straw-tinted, though whiter as cubs. 

 Students of inheritance will find interest in Professor Cossar 

 Ewart's papers on " Experiments with a Mexican Dog (of the 

 Chihuahua breed) " and with Prejvalsky's Horse. In a future 

 edition, by the way, more attempt should be made to ensure 

 correct spelling of names. 



Report on Cetacea Stranded on the British Coasts during 1914. 

 By Dr. S. P. Harmer, F.B.S. British Museum, 1915. 

 Is. 6d. 



This Beport on the specimens of Cetacea stranded on our 

 coasts during 1914 has been carried through by the aid of infor- 

 mation communicated owing to arrangements made by the 

 Board of Trade, and these have been more thoroughly carried 

 out than in 1913, at least until the outbreak of war naturally 

 occupied coastguards otherwise. In spite of this, however, 

 fifty-seven records go to the share of 1914, as against seventy- 

 six in the previous year, and the evidence obtained for 1914 is 

 more precise, efforts having been made to obtain the lower jaw 

 of small species and a plate of whalebone in the case of Whales 

 possessing this, such samples being generally sufficient for the 

 identification of species. The Keport, which is illustrated with 

 a text-figure and three maps, deals with the following species : 

 Common Porpoise (Phoccena phoccena), Common Dolphin (Del- 

 phinus delphis), White-beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albi- 

 rostris), Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), Pilot Whale 

 (Globicephala melcena), Bottle-nosed Whale (Hyperoodon rostratus), 

 Sowerby's Whale {Mesophodon bidens), Common Borqual (Balce- 

 noptera physalus), and Budolphi's Borqual (B. borealis). As one 

 would expect, the records are far the most numerous in the 

 case of the first-named, and on fifteen more or less complete 

 specimens of the lower jaw an interesting study of the teeth and 

 rate of growth has been based by Dr. Harmer. 



