4§4 
A nalyses of Books . 
|August : 
deficient, are here, as elsewhere, a source of malaria. In the 
province of Salta, the real original potato, a small reddish tuber 
no larger than a walnut, is still in use. A curious instance is 
given of the ferocity of the peccary. A man, in order to escape 
a herd of these fierce little swine, climbed up a good-sized tree, 
leaving his horse tied to the foot. His friends found afterwards 
that the brutes had not only attacked and devoured the horse, 
but had uprooted the tree, and made a meal of him also ! 
The falls of the Parana exceed the much-vaunted Niagara. 
That of Iguazu is calculated at 174 to 180 feet perpendicular, 
whilst Niagara is only 144. The width of the Iguazu is a 
thousand yards, and its volume of water enormous. The Guaira 
fall is much larger still ! 
In closing our survey of this work we must pronounce the 
second volume much more important and interesting than its 
predecessor. It gives an excellent picture of the capabilities of 
the La Plata regions, and will, we hope, tempt further explorers 
to a region whose fauna and flora are scarcely even known in the 
rudest outline. 
A Manual of the Infusoria. Including a description of all known 
Flagellate, Ciliata, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa, British 
and Foreign, and an account of the Organisation and 
Affinities of the Sponges. By W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., 
F.Z.S., F.R.M.S. 3 Volumes, pp. 913, 51 Plates. London: 
David Bogue, 1880 — 1882. 
This magnificent work will probably disappoint those micro- 
copists who have been accustomed to a convenient arrangement 
by which all minute inhabitants of fresh or salt water have been 
spoken of as Infusoria, a heterogeneous group including not only 
the Infusoria proper, but various Rhizopoda, Rotifera, and even 
Acari, besides numerous vegetable organisms, such as the Diato- 
maceae, Desmidias, and other Algae. Although such classifica- 
tion, or rather want of it, may bring together those forms most 
sought after by the pond hunting microscopist, it is somewhat 
bewildering to the student who wishes to do more than merely 
name the specimens which come under his notice. He will here, 
for the first time in any English work, find the Infusoria proper 
brought together in an accessible form. Limited, as they now 
are, to a small sedlion of the sub-kingdom, Protozoa, the number 
of species is surprising, no less than 51 plates, each containing 
numerous figures, being required to delineate the various forms 
described in the book. 
