REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 921 
suitable for such a process, and denies that such an ‘* Eden” as 
æckeľs Lemuria could have existed; but does not give conclu- 
sive reasons why such was not formerly the case. How is it possi- 
ble that the surface of the earth can now be correctly delineated, 
as it was in the Miocene period, when the first man probably 
appeared ? 
Whatever may be the truth of man’s origin, it has at least been 
proved that it has taken unnumbered centuries for man to become 
what a few of his numbers now are; and, again, that so-called 
savages are not a result of racial degradation. With these facts, 
as we consider them, prominent in the mind, as we read of Shakes- 
peare’s Caliban, elucidated by Dr. Wilson’s ingenious pages, we 
cannot but think that there is a balance in favor still of Darwin’s 
theory, and that the greater difficulties in the way of absolute 
proof have not been touched upon by the author of ‘‘ The Missing 
Link.” — C. C. A. 
OrxrTHOLOGY oF THE West.*—Our notice of Mr. Allen’s article 
has been unayoidably delayed, and even now we can do little more 
than call attention to one of the most important of the year’s 
contributions to North American Ornithology—a telling paper, 
worthily succeeding the author’s ‘Florida.’ As Director of a 
scientific expedition from the Cambridge Museum, Mr. Allen ex- 
plored the greater portion of four territories, collected some two 
thousand specimens of over two hundred species of birds, besides 
much other material, and made extended observations, especially 
in the matters of geographical distribution and climatic variation. 
The range of the species is exhibited by means of eight separate 
local lists, while a ninth gives a digest of the whole. The faunal 
catalogues are severally prefaced with topographical, climatic and 
other data of important bearing and enlarged with various inter- 
esting biographical notes. 
Questions of variation in specific character according to extrinsic 
physical agencies are discussed throughout the paper as they suc- 
cessively arise, and, we need not add, with the author’s recognized 
impartiality and ability. The observed facts receive, on the whole, 
what we believe to be their true interpretation. We have no space 
to occupy with details, for which we must simply refer to the 
* Notes of an Ornithological Reconnoissance of Portions of Kansas, Colorado, Wyo- 
ming and Utah. By J. A. Allen. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. iii, No. 6, pp. 113-183. July, 
1872. £ 
