1 882.] Recent Literature. 39 



the author is so far constrained, from motives of prudence in 

 dealing with scientific names to the uninitiated as to use " back- 

 boned animals " for vertebrates, and the term "suck-giving " for 

 mammalian, why does he take away the layman's breath by pro- 

 posing the term /lexicology, when we are only just getting used to 

 the much better term environment? 



But notwithstanding the formidable name at the head of the 

 chapter, the essay itself is quite interesting, and serves to intro- 

 duce us to the more valuable and interesting one on the pedigree 

 and origin of the cat. In this essay all that has been learned of 

 the cat's structure and development, and of cats and carnivora in 

 general, is brought to bear upon the question of the origin of 

 the species, and family, and order. In answer to these questions, 

 the author, adopting the results of French and American palaeon- 

 tologists, states his belief that the cat has originated from the 

 cheetah, and the Felidae in general from some Viverrine animal, 

 while the carnivora may have descended from Arctocyon, the 

 oldest Tertiary mammal, and contrary to the views of some, our 

 author derives the carnivora from the insectivora, rather than the 

 marsupials. As to the method of evolution, Mivart stands out 

 from most other English evolutionists as a believer in sudden or 

 saltatory evolution as well as slow, gradual development of spe- 

 cies, his views in a general way agreeing with those of several 

 American writers on this subject. This last chapter is certainly 

 an able and interesting discussion, and the entire volume is the 

 work of an expert comparative anatomist, and of a strong, able, 

 facile writer. 



Thomas' Fifth Report ox the Injurious Insects of Illinois. 1 

 — In its typographical appearance, as well as general usefulness 

 to the farmer or gardener, and interest to the entomologist, this 

 report appears to us to be somewhat in advance of its predeces- 

 sors. The longest article is on the army worm, and is a critical 

 discussion of known facts regarding its natural history, some 

 points of which still remain to be cleared up. Professor Thomas 

 suggests as the result of his meteorological studies in connection 

 with this insect and the chinch bug, that two favorable seasons 

 are necessary to develop these insects in injurious numbers. The 

 time is coming when by a study of climatic changes, we shall be 

 able to predict, with some degree of certainty, the coming of in- 

 jurious insects. This has already been in part worked out as 

 regards the Rocky Mountain locust, and in this connection the 

 suggestions and facts in the chapter of the present report on '| the 

 relation of meteorological conditions to insect development " is 

 timely and valuable. Enough is now known of the periodicity 

 in life of the more injurious insects to indicate that the Hessian 



1 Tenth Retort of the 

 the State of 1 



