1893.] - Recent. Literature, 998 
toa length hitherto unknown in the science, and the nomenclature is 
reduced to a system which takes in all names, provided they got 
printed, no matter how. 
Theidentification of some of Baird and Girard's type specimens, and 
hence species, is a service for which herpetologists will be grateful, and 
Dr. Stejneger places in the hands of naturalists the means of deter- 
mining their value. That they will often disagree with his conclusions 
as to species, is to be expected. Thus by his own showing Sceloporus 
magister is not a different species from S. clarkii, although he thinks it 
is; nor Hypsiglena texana Stejneger sp. nov. from H. ochrorhynchus ; 
nor Bufo halophilus from B. columbiensis. I have examined the series of 
-Orotaphytes in the National Museum with the view of ascertaining the 
standing of the recently described C. baileyi Stejn. and C. silus Stejn., 
and I cannot see in them more than poorly defined local races of the 
C. collaris and C. wislizenii respectively. The same is true of Callisau- 
rus ventralis Hallow., as compared with C. dracontoides. In nomen- 
clature, we have all the nomina nuda of Fitzinger revived, and all 
the unclassical spellings of original authors carefully preserved. Thus 
we find Pituophis for Pityophis, Bascanion for Bascanium, and bi-seria- 
tus for biseriatus. Such acumen directed to the proper spelling of 
names would be a material gain to science in this country. 
Forty-four species of Reptiles were procured by the expedition, and 
twelve species of Batrachia. None of them are regarded as new’ to 
science excepting a Rana, which is called Rana fischerii. This appears 
to be very close to the R. onca, with which it should be further com- 
pared. "The notes on the habits of the species by Dr. Merriam are very 
interesting and add much to the value of the paper. Before passing 
to the fishes, I pause to correct a misapprehension into which Dr. Stej- 
neger has fallen, and which involves the veracity of the writer of this 
review. In adopting the name pipiens for the Rana virescens, he 
remarks that Garman has shown that the former is the correct name, 
and that he is therefore not responsible “as one might be led to believe 
from Cope's treatment of the matter,” for the use of the second name 
(virescens). "The paragraphs in which the reasons for the employment 
of the name virescens are set forth in my Batrachia of North America, 
were copied directly from MS. furnished me by Mr. Garman. Mr. 
Garman changed his mind after the publication of my book. 
The region explored is not rich in fishes, but a good many specimens 
and species were obtained. The most important result is the discovery 
?The new species described in the report are from adjacent regions. 
