516 Recent Literature. 
It is unnecessary to advance them any reasons why this bill should 
be passed, and the park established as proposed. We only. 
allude to the great advantages to science and the general 
public which would inevitably result from the gathering together 
at the capital of the nation of a great collection of quadrupeds, 
birds, and reptiles living and breeding under highly favorable con- 
ditions. The time is fast approaching when many of our most 
noteworthy American quadrupeds will exist only in parks and 
menageries. The buffalo is now almost extinct in his wild state, 
and the Rocky Mountain goat is also certain to disappear in a very 
few years more. 
Ours is almost the only great nation which does not maintain a 
national zoological garden on a grand scale, and we are glad to see 
that the idea of such an institution for us is at last taking tangible 
shape. It is eminently proper that it should be located at the 
capital city, which is now the scientific centre of the nation, and 
the Mecca which is visited annually by tens of thousands of 
citizens from every nook and corner of America. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
THREE CRUISES OF THE BLAKE.'—In recent years American 
work in marine exploration has been overshadowed by the promi- 
nence given to the celebrated Voyage of the “Challenger,” while 
the magnificent manner in which the scientific results of that voyage 
have been published by Her Majesty’s Government is unrivalled. 
Still, American science is doing much to unrayel the secrets of the 
sea, and the investigations of the Fish Commission and of „the 
Coast Survey stand second only to those of the “Challenger” 1m 
their importance. 
In the two volumes by Mr. Agassiz we have a popular account 
of the results of the Cruises of the Coast Survey Steamer “ Blake, 
which is entitled to rank with the accounts of Moseley, Spry, = 
even of Wyville Thompson, of the Voyage of the “ Challenger, 
ree Cruises of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 
Steamer “ Blake” in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea and along 
the Atlantic Coast of the United States, from 1877 to 1880. By a oa 
der Agassiz. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. xxii., 314 and 220, Boston: Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. 1888. $8,00, Je 
