122 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The Skeleton of the Primates . — Mr. St. Geo. Mivart, of St. Mary’s Hospital, 
has reprinted, from the Zoological Transactions, his admirably comprehensive 
monograph on the Skeleton of the Primates. Part I. is now before us, and 
treats of the appendicular skeleton of Simla. It extends over more than 50 
pages 4to., and is illustrated by a multitude of large folding plates, on which 
are figured the several bones described in the text. These drawings are such 
as could only be produced by a most skilful artist working under the watchful 
eye of an able anatomist; the rough processes, depressions, and articular 
surfaces of the bones are reproduced with a fidelity which, unhappily, we too 
seldom find in osteological treatises. It is by essays such as Mr. Mivart’s that 
the science of Comparative Anatomy may hope eventually for a solid un- 
shifting basis — essays in which the cautious observations of an unprejudiced 
student are allied to a just appreciation of the law of homologies ; features 
which the memoir presents in no ordinary degree. The elaborate character 
of Mr. Mivart’s monograph may be judged by the fact that it contains, beside 
its descriptive portion, complete comparative measurements of the appen- 
dicular bones of three different sets of specimens, and one distinct variety. 
From his researches on the Orang, Mr. Mivart concludes that it is ‘‘ one of 
the most peculiar and aberrant forms to be found in the order of Primates.” 
The Osteology of Insectivor a . — Mr. Mivart continues his account of the 
Osteology of the Insectivora in a second paper, published in the Journal of 
Anatomy. The paper extends over forty pages of brevier type, and is ac- 
companied by numerous wood-cuts. 
The Limhs of Man and Apes is the subject of a third monograph by Mr. 
Mivart. This is reprinted from the Philosophical Transactions, is amply 
illustrated by a series of handsome I’plates, and contains comparative and 
absolute measurements, not only of the bones but of the various processes 
of the angles and of the bones, of all the genera, from Man to Cheiromys ; in 
all thirty-one genera. 
Blind Coleoptera . — The anatomy of certain species of beetles which inhabit 
cavern^ has ^ been quite recently investigated by M. Lespes, who has sent an 
abstract of his memoir to the French Academy. The species are five in 
number, and belong to four different families. Three of them live in caves : 
Adelops syrenceus, Aphcenops Leschenaultii, and Pholenon Luerdlhaci ; one lives 
in ant-hills : Claviger Duvalii ; and the fifth is found at considerable depth 
in the ground : Langelandia anopthalma. In all five the eye is completely 
absent, there being not even the most rudimentary trace of the organ. The 
optic nerve is not present, and the cerebral ganglia, instead of possessing 
the arrangement in other insects, are represented by a pair of oval-shaped 
bodies, which lie parallel to each other. On the whole, the anatomy of these 
species is like that of the larva of certain species which are blind in their 
earliest stage of independent existence. — Vide Comptes Rendus, Nov. 25. 
