569 Recent Literature. _ _ [September, 
done, by their gratuitous labors, to extend the knowledge of such marine 
and fresh-water animals of the United States as form the food of fishes. 
The present, report is wholly practical in its nature, comprising an in- 
quiry into the decrease of the food fishes, and the propagation of food 
fishes in the waters of the United States. Appended to the report are 
essays, mostly taken from foreign sources, on fisheries and fish culture in 
the Old World. These essays are very suggestive, and it is to be expected 
that the results of experiments and studies made by the present com- 
mission will lead to discoveries and records of equal value, should the 
commission be maintained by the government for a sufficient number of 
years. 
Hyatr’s NORTH AMERICAN Sponges.) — The second part of this 
elaborate revision of our North American sponges contains a good many 
novel and interesting facts regarding the influence of temperature and the 
nature of the sea-bottom upon the growth, variation, and distribution of 
our useful sponges, as well as the mode of fishing for and preparing them 
for the market. Professor Hyatt regards the sponges as forming “a 
distinct sub-kingdom or branch of animals, equivalent structurally to the 
Vertebrata or any of the larger divisions which are characterized by the 
most important structural differences.” The excellence of the plates 
shows how well photography may be applied to the delineation of these 
animals. 
Recent Books AND Pamputets. — Reconciliation of Science and Religion. By 
a Winchell, LL. D. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1877. 12mo, pp- 
Pauling of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. Vol. ii., Part I 
January, 1876-June, 1877. Davenport, Iowa, July. 1877. 8vo, pp. 148. 3 plates. 
Account of the Discovery of Inscribed Tablets. By Rev. J. Gass. With a Descrip- 
tion by Dr. R. J. Farquharson. (Proceedings of the Davenport —- of Nat 
ural Sciences, vol. ii.) Davenport, Iowa, July, 1877. 8vo, pp. 23. 3 plates. 
List of the Vertebrated Animals now or lately living in the aane of the Zo- 
— Society of London. Sixth Edition. London. 1877. 8vo, pp. 519, with 
"Zar Morphologie des Tracheensystems. Von Dr, J. A. Palmén. Helsingfors. — 
ag 8vo, pp. 149. 2 plates. 
ual Report of ar Entomological Society of the Province of Ontario for the 
year "1676. Toronto. 1877. 8vo, pp. 58. 
On the Dispersal of gates. ais Insects by Atmospheric Agencies. feos 
Müller (Basileensis). (Reprinted from Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1871.) Basle ao 
8vo, pp. 16. i 
Report of the Director of the Central Park Menagerie, Department of ee 
Parks, City of New York, for year 1876. New York. 1877. 8vo, pp. 34. 
_Bathybius und die Moneren. Von Ernst Haeckel. 8vo, pp. 12. 1877. 
Brehm’s Thierleben. Bd. 2. Heft i-iv. Leipzig. 1877. New vex: B. Wester- 
mann & Co. 40 cents a Heft. 
De for Ager, Eng, og Have gr Insekter og Smaakryb. Af W. M. a 
Kristiania, 1875. 12mo, pp. 212. 8 p 
1 a of the North American Porifere. With Remarks pate ss n Sp No. 
Part II. (Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, Y art IV. 
5. Boston, May 28, 1877. 4to, pp. 73. 3 carbon REACT 
