34(3 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. No. 531. 



Bibliographer — A. C. True, of Washington, 

 D. C. 



Executive Committee — H. C. White, of Georgia; 

 J. L. Snyder, of Michigan; W. H. Jordan, of New 

 York; C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, and L. H. Bailey, 

 of New York. 



Section on College Work and Administration — 

 Chairman, R. W. Stimson, of Connecticut; Sec- 

 retary, K. L. Butterfield, of Rhode Island. 



Section on Experiment Station Work — Chair- 

 man, H. J. Patterson, of Maryland; Secretary, 

 M. A. Scovell, of Kentucky. 



E. W. AiXEN. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The American Natural History, A Founda- 

 tion of Useful Knowledge of the Higher 

 Animals of North America. By William 

 T. HouxADAY. New York, Charles Scrib- 

 iier's Sons. 1904. 8vo. Pp. xxv -f 449. 

 The object of this book is to make nature 

 avaihible to laymen; it is also particularly 

 addressed to teachers and parents. It is in- 

 tended to be plain, practical and direct, 

 as well as systematic and scientific. The 

 author has evidently striven (generally with 

 good effect) to make his exposition simple and 

 lucid, his diagrams and synopses mnemonic, 

 his illustrations life-like, his style lively and 

 personal. He has a proper abhorrence of 

 mere closet naturalists as such, and much of 

 the information presented he has won at first- 

 hand during many years' experience as a field 

 naturalist in America and the far east, and 

 as diroctdr of the New York Zoological Park. 

 Accordingly, we find here much practical and 

 economic zoology, invaluable matter on the 

 extinction of American species, and the set- 

 ting right of many ancient and silly myths. 

 As the field covered includes all the principal 

 types of vertebrates found in North America, 

 it is not to be wondered at that slips are to 

 be detected hero and there; and in regard to 

 the author's ideas on classification we shall 

 offer a few criticisms. 



Clear exposition is exhibited in many sec- 

 tions of the book, notably in the chapter on 

 the rodents. The genera and species are 

 sketched in a manner that should be easily 

 intelligible to the layman and useful to the 

 general zoologist. The chapter dealing with 



the ruminants is also noteworthy. There are 

 numerous excellent synopses arranged in 

 brackets, and for each class of vertebrates 

 there is a chart of the different orders. Ad- 

 mirable charts show the distribution of moun- 

 tain sheep, elk, etc., and a convenient map 

 of North America appears on the inner back 

 cover. 



The drawings, while of uneven merit, are 

 full of life and action and have good teach- 

 ing value. Many of them, as, for example 

 that which represents the harpooning of a 

 twenty-foot eagle ray, will surely arouse the 

 enthusiasm of young readers. 



Certain groups, e. g., the ducks, are illus- 

 ti-ated with great fullness. There are many 

 photographs from life, among those of es- 

 pecial merit being the well-known photo- 

 graph by Umlauff of an old male gorilla, the 

 photograph by Professor Nathorst of a herd 

 of wild musk oxen, the photographs of the 

 white-tailed deer, bison, owls, pelicans, flamin- 

 gos, condors, etc., and several of crocodiles; 

 a most remarkable one is that by Beck show- 

 ing a great multitude of the marine iguanas 

 of the Galapagos gathered together on a rocky 

 shore. There are excellent photographs of the 

 principal snakes; and among Amphibians one 

 photograph shows the northern tree frog with 

 tlu' vocal sack protruded. 



The author aims to amuse as well as to in- 

 struct, as shown in the following typical pas- 

 sage : 



\Vhenever you see a brown-coated burrowing 

 iinimal, the length of a small rat, but twice as 

 thick, with a big pouch in the skin of each cheek, 

 a swinish appetite, a set of long claws like 

 burglars' tools on each fore foot and a most vil- 

 lainous countenance and temper you may know 

 that it is a pocket gopher. The pockets in his 

 cheeks are to enable him to carry extra large 

 quanfities of stolen potatoes and seeds. 



It is regrettable that in the endeavor to be 

 popular the author repeatedly ascribes human 

 characteristics to those animals, such as pikes, 

 for example, which, so far as we know, are 

 utterly unlike man in their psychic constitu- 

 tion. The same straining for popularity also 

 leads in a number of passages to sensational- 

 ism and ' rhetoric' 



