314 
Notices of Books . 
[April, 
A Monograph of the Silurian Fossils of the Girvan District , in 
Ayrshire , with Special Reference to those contained in the 
“ Gray Collection." By H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D., 
&c., and R. Etheridge, Jun., F.G.S. (Fasc. I. — Rhizopoda, 
ACtinozoa, Trilobita.) Edinburgh and London : W. Black- 
wood and Sons. 
The authors have been led to undertake a detailed and systematic 
description of the fossil remains found in the Silurian area of 
the Girvan districft, which they consider will be an important 
contribution towards the solution of certain problems in both 
palaeontology and geology. Judging from this first fasciculus 
they are carrying out their task with scrupulous care, accuracy, 
and thoroughness. 
Studies in Comparative Anatomy. No. II. “ Anatomy of the 
Indian Elephant. By L. C. Miall, Professor of Biology in 
the Yorkshire College, and Curator of the Leeds Museum ; 
and F. Greenwood, Curator to the Leeds School of Medi- 
cine. London : Macmillan and Co. 
The authors have disseCted a young female elephant, and have 
been able to make not a few additions to and rectifications of 
the descriptions furnished by earlier observers. They have con- 
fined themselves almost exclusively to myology. The osteology 
and dentition they omit altogether, as ordinary text-books already 
contain descriptions sufficient for the purposes of the naturalist 
or the palaeontologist. 
Concerning the alimentary canal and its appendages, and the 
circulatory, respiratory, and reproductive systems, tjiey give 
merely a summary of what is already known, supplemented by 
their own observations. 
As regards the nervous system they are unable to give any 
novel information, the rather as the brain of their subject was 
not removed till eight months after death, when it was found too 
much disintegrated for examination. 
They recommend those who may have the opportunity to 
make a microscopical examination of the large intestine of the 
elephant immediately while fresh, and also to investigate the 
brain minutely immediately alter death. The value of this 
monograph is increased by the bibliography of the subject. 
