1877.] Recent Literature. 557 
We therefore regard the Cenozoic and Psychozoic as two 
consecutive eras, and the Quaternary as the critical, revolution- 
ary, or transitional period between. But since the record of this 
last critical period is not lost, and we must place it somewhere, it 
seems best to place it with the Cenozoic era and the mammalian 
age, and to commence the Psychozoic era and age of man with 
the completed supremacy of man, that is, with the Present 
epoch. 
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, March 15, 1877. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Breum’s Anrmat Lire. — A second edition of Brehm’s well-known 
German work on the animal kingdom is now in course of publication, 
to be issued in about a hundred parts, published weekly or fortnightly, 
forming a series of volumes of unusual attractiveness and interest. 
The author tells us that it is really a new work under an old title, hav- 
ing been rewritten and enlarged. While the first volume of the first 
series | treats of the mammals from the apes down to the family of 
dogs, succeeding volumes will treat of the other mammals and of the 
reptiles and fishes. These will be written by Dr. A. E. Brehm, the well- 
known naturalist, while those on the articulated animals will be written 
by Prof. E. L. Taschenberg, of Halle, and the mollusks will be treated 
of by Prof. Oscar Schmidt, of Strasburg. What provision is to be made 
for the other invertebrate animals is not yet announced. 
The work is of a general nature, not designed for the special zodlog- 
ical student or for children, but for those who wish to gain a knowledge 
of the principal forms of animal life, their habits and distribution. 
There are no troublesome, perplexing anatomical or embryological de- 
tails, save wood-cuts of skeletons, in word or picture, no foot-notes, and 
the style is easy, sprightly, and often colloquial. It is apparently a pop- 
ular work in the best sense of the word, and should be well patronized 
in this country, if for no other reason than for the wealth of wood-cuts, 
both full-page and textual, which alone, to those ignorant of German, 
Would make it of lasting value. The illustrations are nearly all new to 
us, and in very many, we suppose most, cases are drawn from life by 
such artists as R. Kretschmer, G. Mutzel, and E. Schmidt, with the 
greatest apparent fidelity. 
The plan of the work is excellent. After an introductory chapter on 
life in its totality, the apes are described, — man, the type of the first sub- 
order of Primates, being referred to only incidentally in com parison with 
* Brekm’s Thierleben. Allgemeine Kund, des Thierreichs. Grosse Ausgabe, 
Zweite umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Erste Abtheilung, Siugethiere. 
Erster Band. Leipzig Verlag des bibliographischen Institute. 1876. 8vo, pp. 706. 
New York; B. Westermann & Co. 40 cents a part; 12 parts to a volume. 
