1200 Recent Literature. | December, 
us that it is opposed to his preferences and convictions, as it is to 
all the rules of nomenclature in existence. 
A characteristic which it would be well for American nat- 
uralists to imitate, is the classical form and derivation of most of 
Professor Jordan’s names. They display a refreshing contrast to 
the poverty of invention and barbarous constitution of the handi- 
work of too many of our countrymen of earlier years. Moreover 
we do not find the extravagant use of personal names, which has 
so prevailed of recent years in England and France. The dedi- 
cation of a species to men of desert, still remains a compliment in 
this country, whatever it may have become elsewhere. 
We append the following special notes apropos of one which 
appeared in the NATURALIST for 1885, page 814. In this note we 
did unintentional injustice to Mr. Meek in criticising determina- 
tions which we are informed, were mostly made by Professor 
Jordan. With regard to the Pantosteus platyrhynchus, whose 
characters were said to be due to “ shriveling” of the specimen, 
our objections were well taken; as Professor Jordan intorms us 
that this word is due to aslip of memory, and should be replaced 
by “soft and limp,” the words used in his private notes. Further, 
Professor Jordan states that he cannot find barbels in either 
Meda fulgida Gir. or M. argentissima Cope,as I have described them 
in the latter, and as Girard failed to observe in the former. The 
former is very abundant in the San Francisco river, one of the 
heads of the Gila in New Mexico, where it is the small minnow 
of the stream. Like Jordan, I find no barbel in any specimen. 
I have reason to suspect the correctness of the locality given me as 
that of the M. argentissima, i. ¢., the head waters of the Rio Grande. 
I suspect it comes from the waters of the Great Colorado. The 
locality given me for the Pantosteus guzmaniensis Caress 
“Arkansas river,” I have long suspected to be erroneous. 
have now reason to believe that it comes from the head waters of 
the San Juan river, a branch of the Colorado. 
_ Professor Jordan adopts very properly Gill’s new order of 
Lyomeri, for the remarkable Eurypharyngide. -5 DC, 
RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. 
an, C. O.—Methods of research in microscopical er and embryology- 
ede S, PE ES 1885. From the publisher 
Packard, A. S—On the Structure of the Brain of the ole eyed Crustacea. 
Nat. Acad. Sci., Vol. III, September, 1885. From the author. 
Smith, E. A.—A general description of gh climate and i etc., features of 
the cotton-producing States. Ext. 4th Rep. Entomol. Comm , 1884, 
aera the ores and minerals of industrial importance sorang in Alabama. 
— Remarks on a paper of Dr. Otto Meyer on “ Species in the southern old Ter- 
ch Ame, ys » Sci., Oct. » 1885, All from the author. 
