February 6, 1885.] 



SCIENCE 



115 



expense, twenty or thirty days being required to reach 

 the highlands from Obok. However, the only route 

 previously available took forty or fifty days for the 

 same transit. Transportation is very expensive, 

 reaching four or five hundred dollars per ton ; so that 

 only the most valuable goods, such as arms and am- 

 munition, can be profitably sent in, and gold, ivory, 

 and musk brought out. However, Shoa has a popu- 

 lation of three millions, intelligent and semi-civilized, 

 whose manners and customs approach those of Eu- 

 rope, who are Christians, and are governed by a code of 

 laws derived from the Institutes of Justinian. The 

 construction of a railway of two or three hundred 

 miles in length would open an immense market for 

 the manufactured goods of Europe. Soleillet's labors 

 have been rewarded by the cross of the legion of 

 honor. 



INGERSOLL'S COUNTRY COUSINS. 



Mr. Ingersoll's ; Short studies in natural 

 history ' is a revised reprint of a number of 

 handsomely illustrated articles on a variety of 

 subjects, which have recently appeared in vari- 

 ous popular magazines. Of the twenty-one 

 chapters, three are devoted to birds ; one each 

 to shrews and seals ; three to oysters and their 

 enemies ; one each to rattlesnakes, squids and 

 their allies, elk-antlers, the pompauo shells, 

 the caverns at Luray and at Pike's Peak, the 

 abalone, shell-mone}' of the American Indians, 

 etc. On mairy of these subjects the author 

 writes from personal observation ; but much of 

 the book, as might be expected, is compiled. 

 In detailing his own observations, he seldom 

 wanders from the mark ; but, in treating sub- 

 jects at second hand, he is occasionally betrayed 

 into misstatements, either through inattention 

 or by his authorities, whom he is not in position 

 to properly weigh. We are surprised, for in- 

 stance, that he should soberly repeat the asser- 

 tion that mocking-birds are able to kill large 

 snakes by beating them with their wings. He 

 shows a not very clear conception of his subject, 

 when, in speaking of the shrews, he states that 

 the smallest American species belong to the 

 genus Blarina ; nor is this the only glaring in- 

 accuracy in the chapter on these animals. A 

 very excellent account of the large-billed water- 

 thrush (Siurus motacilla) is marred at its 

 close by the statement, k This is a northern 

 bird,' — the opposite of the truth, when con- 

 trasted, as here, with the small-billed species. 

 Equally careless and inexcusable is the state- 

 ment that martens, as well as weasels and 

 ermines, turn white in winter. The interesting 



Country cousins: short studies in the natural history of the 

 Lnited States. By Ernest Ingersoll. New York, Harper 

 db brothers, 1884. 252 p., illustr. 8°. 



and very sensible article on ' Rattlesnakes in 

 fact and fancy,' however, while not wholly free 

 from errors, treats the subject of ' mimicry ' in 

 relation to the rattles with commendable judg- 

 ment. In the account of star-fishes as enemies 

 of the oyster, there are some overdrawn state- 

 ments respecting the power of multiplication 

 by division possessed by star-fishes. In the 

 chapter on ' Periwinkles and other oyster- 

 pests,' the large ' winkles,' or ' conchs,' of the 

 genera Sjcotypus and Fulgar, are erroneously 

 stated to be unprovided with a lingual ribbon 

 of teeth. The quahaug is said to be usually 

 safe from the ravages of these species ; but 

 this is by no means the case, since at some 

 localities we have found the quahaug to be 

 their principal prey, even the largest specimens 

 not escaping their rapacity. It is stated, on 

 the authority of ' an intelligent man,' that 

 Fulgar carica is able to draw even the razor- 

 shell out of its burrow, and devour it ; while 

 the fact is that this is done by even very }*oung 

 examples. The chapter on ' Seals and seal- 

 hunting in the North Atlantic ' is far from 

 accurate in many of its statements ; but, 

 strangest of all, under the page-heading ' A 

 bit of comparative anatomy,' we are told that 

 the tail of the whale, and of cetaceans in 

 general, is not a ' tail ' at all, but is structu- 

 rally homologous — having the same compo- 

 nent bones — with the hind-flippers of a seal 

 and the hind-limbs of other mammals. Not to 

 cite other frequent evidences of either careless- 

 ness or ignorance, the foregoing will show that 

 a very readable, and in the main commend- 

 able, book may contain faults of a very serious 

 character. The author tells us the book is 

 written in the hope that it ma}^ " contain not 

 only some entertainment, but also helpful sug- 

 gestions for those who take delight in outdoor 

 studies." It certainly does contain a very 

 large amount of interesting information very 

 entertainingly told, few writers of popular natu- 

 ral-histor}^ books having either the literary 

 ability or the knowledge shown b}- Mr. Inger- 

 soll in the present series of papers. It is the 

 greater pity that here and there he should be 

 found so grievousty tripping. 



The book is very carefully and attractively 

 printed, and the illustrations are artistic and 

 fitting ; but even here the frontispiece is en- 

 titled ' Tree toads,' while only one of the two 

 species figured is a tree-toad, though both are 

 placed on a tree; the other being the wood-frog, 

 and as such is correctly referred to in the text. 

 In the explanation of the cut of a shrew's 

 skull (p. 35) , ' under side of skull ' should be 

 ' upper side of skull. ' 



