REVIEWS. 519 
Journal and Proceedings of the koyal Society of New South Wales for 
1884. Vol. XVIII. Edited by Professor Liversidge, PRS. 
Most of the papers published in this volume have been already 
noticed or referred to in the pages of this Journal in connection with 
the reports of the Society’s monthly meetings. The only important 
contribution not noticed is by the Rev. Peter MacPherson on “ The 
oven-mounds of the Aborigines in Victoria,” which gives a short 
account of the structure, contents and distribution of these interesting 
remains, A great part of the work consists of the usual official publica- 
tions, such as the Act of Incorporation, Rules, List of Members, 
Additions to the Library, Exchanges, &c. The last eleven pages give 
a very complete abstract of the meteorological observations taken at the 
Sydney Observatory, and this is accompanied by a map and two charts 
showing graphically the rainfall over the whole of New South Wales 
and its effect on the rivers. 
Elementary Text-book of Zoology: Special Part.— Mollusca to Man. 
By Dr. C. Claus ; translated and edited by Adam Sedgwick, M.A., 
with the assistance of F. G. Heathcote, B.A. (London: W. Swan 
Sonnenschein & Co., 1885.) 
The present -volume is considerably smaller than its predecessor 
containing only 352 pages as against 615 in the first volume. The first 
100 pages are devoted to Mollusca, Molluscoida, and Tunicata, the 
remainder of the book dealing with the Vertebrata. Thus in the whole 
work about 520 pages are devoted to Invertebrates, and 230—consi- 
derably less than one-third of the whole systematic or Special Part—to 
Vertebrates. This is treating the latter group rather shabbily : both 
Huxley and Gegenbaur devote about two-fifths of their space to 
Vertebrates, and Macalister nearly one half: the former proportion is 
by no means excessive when the complexities of vertebrate anatomy are 
considered. We were, then, not surprised to find the concluding 
portion of Dr. Claus’s Text-book decidedly its weakest part. 
As before, we are struck with the general excellence of the illns- 
trations; they are for the most part thoroughly clear without being 
unduly diagrammatic. Here again, however, the Vertebrata come off 
badly: there are very few figures of vertebrate anatomy, and a 
considerable number of the cuts illustrating the natural form of 
mammals and birds have the awkward pose and imbecile expression 
so characteristic of badly stuffed specimens. The worst figure of all— 
indeed the only thoroughly bad one in the whole book—is a caricature 
of the skeleton of Acanthias on p. 112. The author might surely 
_ have done better for an illustration of the Selachian skeleton than 
to copy an old figure of Owen’s, obviously taken from a specimen 
distorted by drying, with the branchial rays very incorrectly represented, 
and the extra-branchial cartilages gone altogether. 
The sections on the Mollusca, Molluscoida, and Tunicata are excel- 
lent: the last-named group especially is clearly and thoroughly described, 
and is illustrated by a large number of very beautiful cuts. The appli- 
cation of the word cuticle to the periostracon of the molluscan shell is to 
* See p. 378 of this Journal. 
