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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
preparation of a similar book upon the fossils of the Devonian and Carboni- 
ferous periods, which has at length appeared under the title of “ Thesaurus 
Devonico-Carboniferus.’ 
The general plan that he has followed is the same in this as in his former 
work, but there is a little difference in the treatment of its two sections. In 
treating of the Carboniferous series, its wide distribution and great import- 
ance have led the author to separate the registers of species from North 
America and the European area, and to indicate the countries and states in 
which they occur in a series of columns, whilst by placing the American and 
European lists on opposite pages he is enabled to present the whole informa- 
tion with respect to each genus and species at one view, and at the same time 
to furnish a means of contrasting the fauna and flora of the two richest and 
best worked regions. The Carboniferous fossils from localities outside the 
areas above indicated are catalogued separately in special lists. In the case 
of the Devonian the smaller extent of the subjects permits all the informa- 
tion to be brought together in one table, and the author has not considered 
it necessary to separate the North American fossils from the rest. Some 
notion of the labour the author must have undergone in the preparation of 
these elaborate tables may be formed from the fact that he enumerates in 
them, with the particulars above indicated, over 14, COO species of fossils. 
The book, however, contains more than this, and vindicates its title to be 
called a “ Thesaurus ” by other claims. We find in it, besides discussions of 
nearly all points of interest that can arise from the consideration of such a 
series of 'palaeontological tables, bibliographical lists of value, and notes on 
the recognised horisons and subdivisions of the Devonian and Carboniferous 
formations in various countries, often giving the views of different authors 
and always indicating the source of the information, so as to enable the 
student wishing for further information to go at once to head-quarters. 
If, as Solomon tells us, “ of making many books there is no end, and much 
study is a weariness of the flesh ” (and there are few naturalists of the 
present day who will not subscribe at all events to the former proposition), 
students of the Palaeozoic rocks can hardly fail to feel under great obligations 
to Dr. Bigsby, for having taken so much of the 11 weariness ” upon his own 
shoulders. Although we have no doubt that imperfections might be indi- 
cated in his present work,* and its full utility can only be realized by careful 
study of its contents, the enormous amount of information brought together 
in it renders it a perfect mine of knowledge to the palaeontologist and 
geologist. 
ANTHROPOLOGY.! 
O F all the departments into which the great science of Biology is divided, 
Anthropology, if we are to judge from many of the works published 
upon it, is the one which calls for the widest range of knowledge on the 
part of its votaries. From some indications, especially German ones, the 
* We may notice that at p. 26 the Merostomata are represented as equiva- 
lent to Articulata, instead of as a subclass of Crustacea; and that at p. 12o 
the Fichtelgebirge are inserted as if they belonged to Spain. 
t “ Anthropology.” By Dr. Paul Topinard. With preface by Professor 
Paul Broca. Translated by R. T. H. Bartley, M.D. 8vo. London : Chapman 
and Hall. 1878. 
