BOOK NOTICES. 



ANIMALS OP THE PAST. 



Ordinarily, the literature of extinct ani- 

 mals is about as lively as Jurassic reptiles 

 in situ; but the book by Mr. Frederick 

 A. Lucas, of the U. S. National Museum, 

 is a bright and shining exception. It tells 

 the reader precisely what he most wishes 

 to know, and secondly, it is written in a 

 bright, breezy and cheerful sMe. Hereto- 

 fore nearly every scientist save the late Dr. 

 Coues, has written in the orthodox style of 

 funereal and polysyllabic solemnity ; easy to 

 write, but confoundedly hard to read. Mr. 

 Lucas boldly writes as he talks, and the 

 result is delightful. 



The reader is made acquainted with the 

 mammoth and the mastodon, the giant dino- 

 saurus, 40 feet long, the awe-compelling tri- 

 ceratops of the Middle West, the toothed 

 birds and the ancestors of the horse. All 

 these and many more are introduced to the 

 reader so effectively that a permanent ac- 

 quaintance with each is quickly estab- 

 lished. To quite an extent "Animals 

 of the Past" is a handy guide to an 

 acquaintance with the marvellous ex- 

 tinct animals of North America, of 

 which so many have been discovered dur- 

 ing the last 20 years and all of which are yet 

 practically unknown to the great majority 

 of people. People who live in Wyoming, 

 Nebraska and Montana, in particular, will 

 be deeply interested in the descriptions and 

 figures of the wonderful and mysterious 

 creatures which once inhabited those States, 

 and whose fossil remains now fill the halls 

 of our finest museums. 



The whole book is commendably free 

 from technical terms, and commendably 

 filled with pertinent and useful facts clearly 

 stated. As a book for space fillers it will 

 prove a perfect Godsend, and inasmuch as 

 rt is certain to strike 12, it will presently be 

 imitated without limit. Let us hope it is 

 the forerunner of a more lively and read- 

 able style in scientific literature. 



Animals of the Past, by Frederic A. Lucas, 

 Curator of Comparative Anatomy, U. S. National 

 Museum, 8 vo., cloth, pp. xx-258, 41 ills. New 

 York: McClure, Phillips & Co. Price, $2 net. 



A story of the present West is "The Cap- 

 tain of the Gray-Horse Troop," by Hamlin 

 Garland, with the scene laid chiefly in an 

 army fort on an Indian reservation. Its 

 motive is Mr. Garland's own deep interest 

 in the Indians and his earnest desire that 

 the remnant of these peoples may be saved 

 from extinction, not by forcing them into 

 a life unnatural to them, but by permitting 

 them to retain as many of their native cus- 

 toms as possible, and by training them to 



be self-supporting along the fine of their 

 inherited aptitudes. In Captain Curtis, the 

 hero, whom the Indians know and love as 

 Swift Eagle, Mr. Garland has portrayed 

 the man who goes straight to the mark, 

 strong in his faith in himself and" in the 

 righteousness of his work. A beautiful 

 young artist, painting pictures of the Indians 

 at the Fort, furnishes color and romance. 

 With the mountains, the plains, the garri- 

 son life, the dress and customs of the In- 

 dians, Elsie Brisbane's beauty and the upris- 

 ing of the white settlers against the Indians, 

 the story is exceedingly picturesque, and 

 gives Mr. Garland much opportunity to de- 

 depict the scenes he loves best. Harper 

 & Bros., New York, publishers. 



To read "Next to the Ground," by Martha 

 M. Williams, is to spend dreamy, happy, 

 care-free days out of doors, on an old Ten- 

 nessee plantation, where every animal is 

 an individual, every tree and bird and blos- 

 som, important. Mrs. Williams' style is 

 charmingly simple and joyously free from 

 theories. She tells the story of the fields, 

 the woods, the birds, the night, the snow, 

 the hunting, and everything that makes the 

 daily interest of those who work in the soil 

 and live simple, natural, country lives. These 

 "Chronicles of a Countryside" are full of 

 the light of the sky, the quiver of leaves, 

 the calls of the speechless ones, the flutter 

 of wings, sweet smells of wet earth and 

 the sound of the huntsman's horn. Mrs. 

 Williams has a keen sense of humor, which 

 reveals itself deliciously in her point of 

 view toward the tricks and whims of the 

 familiar domestic animals^ as well as the 

 wild things ; and the record of these coun- 

 try days shows matchless observation. 



Published by McClure Phillips & Co., 

 New York. 



478 



Mr. Burt Jones, 855 Beacon Street, Bos- 

 ton, Mass., has collected a large number of 

 photographs of live moose. Most of these 

 pictures were made in the woods of Maine 

 and Canada, and show the moose in almost 

 every possible position or form of action. 

 These pictures must prove of inestimable 

 value to artists, taxidermists and nature 

 students in general. The pictures are 

 strung together by stories of moose hunt- 

 ing and observations on the habits of the 

 animal, and the whole batch is published in 

 a neat and tasteful book of 144 pages. It 

 sells at $2. If interested send for a copy. 



