356 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
A ZOOLOGICAL ATLAS.* 
S OME twelve months ago we noticed the appearance of a 1 Biological 
Atlas/ by Messrs. A. M. & D. McAlpine, in which the authors, by 
means of a series of coloured plates, endeavoured to furnish illustrations of a 
course of lessons in Biology, following the general treatment adopted by 
Prof. Huxley, upon whose lectures, I indeed, the plan of the work was 
founded. One of the authors has now commenced the publication of a more 
extended work of the same kind, the first portion of which, treating of the 
Vertebrata, contains twenty-four large plates with numerous figures showing 
the external form and internal structure of a selected series of vertebrate 
types. We presume the invertebrate groups are to follow. 
The author here describes and figures the component structures of six 
vertebrate animals, and in his selection of the types he has to a certain 
extent been guided by the consideration that the animals should be easily 
procurable. Thus of the Fishes we have the Skate and Codfish as examples 
of Selachian and bony fishes respectively ; the Salamander is taken as the 
type of the Batrachia because, although not a British species, it can easily 
be purchased ; the common Land Tortoise serves as an example of Reptiles, 
a selection which is hardly a good one ; and for Birds and Mammals we 
have the Pigeon and the Rabbit. 
Directions are given for dissecting these various forms of Vertebrates, 
and the structures brought to light are very clearly shown in the numerous 
figures. The plates seem to us to be better than those in the former Atlas. 
NORTH AMERICAN RHIZOPODS.f 
N OT long since we had the pleasure of noticing the appearance of an 
admirable work on the Fresh-water Rhizopoda of North America, by 
Prof. Leidy, published as a volume of the quarto Reports of the United States 
Geological Survey of the Territories. Notwithstanding some defects, this 
treatise was undoubtedly a most valuable contribution to the zoology of the 
Protozoa, and one can only regret that there is in this country no machinery 
by the agency of which such books might be enabled to see the light. 
There is a proverb which says that a prophet shall be without honour in 
his own country. The United States may probably constitute an exception ; 
if not, Prof. Leidy may pass as the exception that proves the rule. At any 
rate his book has received the honour of being summarized in a very neat 
little octavo volume by Mr. Romyn Hitchcock, who gives, as it were, the 
* Zoological Atlas ( including Comparative Anatomy), with Practical 
Directions and Explanatory Text. By D. McAlpine, F.G.S. Vertebrata. 
Oblong 4to. W. & A. K. Johnstone, Edinburgh and London, 1881. 
f Synopsis of the Fresh-water Rhizopods. A condensed account of the 
genera and species, founded upon Prof. Joseph Leidy’s Fresli-water Rhizopods 
of North America. Compiled by Romyn Hitchcock. 8vo. New York, 
R. Hitchcock, 1881. 
