520 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
be regretted, and it should have been stated that the gills of some 
Lamellibranchs contain no blood-vessels and take little or no part in 
respiration. It is disappointing to find the Placophora (Chiton, &c.), 
retained as a sub-order of Prosobranchiata and still more to aotice that 
the Neomeniz and Chetodermata are merely mentioned. The account 
of the ceelome of Cephalopoda is by no means clear, and no mention 
is made of the great size attained by some of the Decapoda 
(Architeuthis, &c.) ) ; 
Throughout the section on Vertebrata many important parts are 
very imperfectly treated. The accounts of the skeleton are uniformly 
extremely poor, those of the skull and limbs being particularly irritating. 
The descriptions of the brain are also, as a rule, very imperfect and 
wanting in clearness. The statement that the Selachians hold the 
highest place among fishes as regards the structure of the brain requires 
qualification: the brain of some sharks (e.g., Scymnus) presents a more 
primitive structure than that of any other Vertebrates. 
Weare glad to notice that the misleading adjective ‘“‘ventral” is no 
longer applied to the pelvic fins of fishes: the true ventral fins are, 
however, called as usual “anal.” The incorrect slatement that the 
caudal vein of Selachians is directly continued into the cardinals is 
repeated in spite of the contrary having been proved more than five and 
twenty years ago by Jourdain. No mention is made of the sub-intes- 
tinal vein, and the efferent branchial arteries are still very incorrectly 
called branchial veins. No mention is made of the fact, described by 
Stannius and rediscovered by Boas, that the clupeoid Butirmus has two 
rows of aortic valves and thus connects the paleichthyic with the teleos- 
tean type of heart. An unfortunate misprint occurs in the otherwise 
excellent section on Amphioxus, hepatic vein being printed for portal 
vein. 
There is a very plentiful lack of information about fossil forms. 
The Dinosauria are separated altogether from Ornithoscelida and are 
said to ‘‘recall Mammals, especially the Pachydermata”! Ichthy- 
osauria and Plesiosauria are treated as families of Enaliosauria which 
group is united with Crocodilia as Hydrosauria. Archcopteryx is 
dismissed in a short note containing the extraordinary statement that 
“since the metatarsal bones are not fused, there is no true avian tarso- 
meta-tarsus:’ the distinctness of the digits of the manus and the 
presence of teeth are not even mentioned. There is also no information 
as to fossil Mammalia and such important groups as Coryphodontia, 
Dinocerata, &c., are not even alluded to. This neglect of vertebrate 
paleontology is the most serious defect of the whole book: while fully 
admitting the splendid services of embryology it is still certain that 
in an accurate knowledge of fossil forms lies the true criterion of the 
morphology of at least the highor Vertebrata. 
The general section on Birds is good considering its brevity. No 
mention is made of the fact that diminution or atrophy of the carina 
sterni takes place in other birds than Ratite, and nothing is said of the 
important character of the coraco-scapular angle. In the short paragraph 
on the Dodo there is nothing about the peculiarities of its structure or 
of the fact that it was flightless. Stringops is similarly neglected, and 
the other flightless Carinate, such as Ocydromus, Notornis, ke. .» are 
not mentioned, 
