228 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [ VOL. XXXV. 
In a well-printed and finely illustrated volume published by 
Appleton, Eugene McCarthy tells of the familiar fishes of the rivers 
of the United States, their habits and the way to catch them. Mr. 
McCarthy writes best of the phases and places of angling most 
familiar to him, his first interest being in the Ouananiche or land- 
locked salmon of Lake St. John. To this useful book a preface has 
been written by Dr. Jordan. D SJ 
North-American Reptiles. — The annual report of the Smith- 
sonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1898, contains, in 
addition to a report on the present condition of the United States 
National Museum, a monograph on the crocodilians, lizards, and 
snakes of North America, by the late Professor Cope. . This 
noteworthy contribution covers some 1120 pages of text, and is 
illustrated by 347 groups of text-figures and by 36 plates. It is pro- 
vided with a separate index. After a brief introduction the groups 
and subgroups of reptiles are defined and their phylogenetic rela- 
tions discussed. This is followed by a series of excellent descrip- . 
tions of the species of crocodilians, lizards, and snakes found in 
North America. The account is accompanied by keys for the 
determination of species and by tables illustrating geographical dis- 
tribution. Considerable attention is devoted to the comparative 
anatomy of parts important from a systematic standpoint, and these 
are well illustrated by clear but simple figures which fill most of the 
plates. The account is concluded by a discussion of the geograph- 
ical distribution of reptiles, particularly in their relation to the North- 
American fauna. 
This work, in connection with the forthcoming volume by the late 
Dr. Baur on turtles, and Cope’s former monograph on the Batrachia 
of North America, will place North-American herpetology next to 
our ornithology in compactness and completeness of its systematic 
treatment. p. 
Porcupine Quills. — The arrangement of the quills and woolly 
hairs on the eastern porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) has been care- 
fully described by Loweg.! In an embryo 18 cm. long the integu- 
ment of the dorsal and lateral aspects of the body was covered 
with short transverse rows of developing quills. Each row was com- 
posed of some nine quills, the middle ones being longer than those 
!Loweg, T. Studien über das Integument des Erethizon dorsatus, Jena. 
Zeitschr. f. Naturwiss., Bd. xxxiv (1900), PP. 833-866, Taf. XXVII, XXVIII. 
