The primary divisions of the Ophidia (or Serpentes as they should be called) adopted, are nine families, which have very different values. These can be associated in superfamilies of approximately equal value, but this Dr. Boulenger has not done, but has contented himself with giving an analytical table (pp. 1-2), where some of the characters of these superfamilies are pointed out, in the dichotomous order, which does not express relative value. Many groups usually regarded as families are not recognized, as for instance the Najidæ and Dipsadida, which are included in the Colubrida. In a phylogenetic table the interesting suggestion is made that the Solenoglyphous snakes are derived from the Opisthoglyphous, and not from the Proteroglyphous. In seeking for generic characters the dentition has been closely examined. The value of dental characters has been thoroughly tested, and the result is valuable to the student, although we do not always agree with the use made of the information in the Catalogue. The author does not adopt the characters used by Duméril and Bibron in many instances, for good reasons, but he introduces others of his own which are no better, as the numbers and in some cases the relative lengths of the teeth. In practice it is often impossible to determine whether teeth are of equal length or a little longer at one or the other end of the jaw; nor is the number of the teeth in the jaws precisely definitive of anything but species, as can be readily seen from the results recorded in the present work. The division or union of the anal plate and urosteges, is generally rejected as a character, although its value is testified to by the uniform use made of it by ophiologists. In fact the generic definitions are based on no uniform principle, and the author seems to have been possessed at times with the idea that it were an especial merit to differ as much as possible from his prede

cessors.

One result of the study of this work will be to prove to ophiologists that it is desirable to become acquainted with new characters of definitive value before we can have the true system of the snakes. An important addition to our knowledge in this direction, i. e. of the characters of the hemipenis and of the lungs, came too late to be incorporated in the present work.-E. D. COPE.

Nuttall's Handbook of Birds.'-A new edition, with important additions, and a series of more than one hundred colored illustrations.

A Popular Handbook of the Ornithology of Eastern North America.-By Thomas Nuttall. Revised and annotated by Montague Chamberlain. Vol. I, Land Birds. Vol. II Game and Water Birds Second edition, with corrections and additions Illustrated with one hundred and seventy-two figures, two colored

This favorite work, easily understood, handy, and popular, including all of Nuttall's delightful descriptions of bird-life, which was some time since fully annotated by Montague Chamberlain, who added the birds not known in Nuttall's time, will be found more useful and valuable than ever before, Mr. Chamberlain having again gone over the work with the greatest care, bringing the information down to date.

Colored representations of the birds being desirable for amateurs and students, a series of twenty plates, containing one hundred and ten figures of birds, has been added to the present edition. The drawings have been mostly copied from those of Wilson, and may be relied on for accuracy, although in some instances the tints do not come up to the brilliancy of Nature. We recommend the book as the one for the family, where the strictly scientific side of ornithology is not the chief desideratum. We mean by this that the work is not devoted to the anatomy and physiology of birds, but is one by which the species may be identified, and where descriptions of their habits and geographical range may be found; all set forth in admirable style.

Education of the Central Nervous System.'-This book is an endeavor to apply the most recent results of psychology and brain physiology to the theory of education. The author quotes from Donaldson and other well-known writers on the topography of the brain ard localization of functions. In view of the close connection between cerebral development and mental capacity, he advocates an education which shall develop all parts of the brain to the greatest possible extent. He recommends especially that children be trained to distinguish every shade of sensation difference, and to recall in vivid images the objects of every kind which they have experienced; if such training be begun early in life, the brain cells are better developed, and in after life our mental images are more numerous and more definite.

Unfortunately the book is limited almost exclusively to a discussion of sensation and memory, leaving out of account entirely the higher rational processes. It becomes an appeal for an education which is fundamentally æsthetic and literary, as distinguished from scientific. Book learning for children is decried, and teachers are urged to take their pupils out into the woods and fields, and have them learn from frontispieces, and twenty colored plates, containing one hundred and ten figures of the most important land and water birds. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra, gilt top, $7.50 uet; half crushed Levant morrocco, extra, gilt top, $13.50 eLITTLE, BROWN & Co., Publishers, 254 Washington Sreet, Boston.

The Education of the Central Nervous System, by R. P. Halleck. New York, The Macmillan Co., 66 Fifth Ave. 1896. Pp. xii, 258; price $1.

nature herself. This was the education, the author thinks, which made Shakespere really great. The study of nature is certainly of value, and the author's recommendations, together with the practical exercises in sense-training which he gives, will doubtless be an aid to this culture. But in these days of the supremacy of science, it is far more important to begin early to lay the foundations of habits of correct scientific thinking. The possession of clear and vivid mental imagery is a factor in correct thinking, of course; but unless accompanied by the logical treatment of ideas it is quite as likely to lead us in the wrong as in the right direction.

As a manual on the education of the central nervous system Mr. Halleck's work is very incomplete; it must be supplemented in several directions, and notably by a considerable amount of that very "booklearning" which the author treats so lightly. The treatment of motor education is inadequate, being confined to a single short chapter at the end of the book. By way of minor criticism, we may notice the author's fondness for repeating the same illustrations (e. g., pp. 82, 248). Some of his deductions are based on very inadequate data (e. g., p. 64); but this is rather the fault of his authorities. His list of great men who began to show talent at an early age, though large, calls to mind so many exceptions as to throw considerable doubt on the position which it seeks to establish.

The chapter entitled: "How Shakspere's Senses were Trained," is interesting to the student of literature, though somewhat too detailed. Throughout the book there is a wealth of quotations from Shakespere, Milton, and other writers, which add to its literary finish, if they do not improve its scientific quality.-H. C. W.

Lydekker on the Geographical History of Mammalia.'_ I have already referred to this work in the last number of the NATURALIST in a paper on the Geographical Distribution of Batrachia and Reptilia of North America. I then pointed out that the author adopts the three Geographical realms of Huxley with the reasons why in my opinion the Ethiopian should constitute a fourth Realm. The divisions of the Notogæic Realm of Lydekker's system, are the Australian, Polynesian, Hawaiian and Austromalayan. The Neogic realm has a sole region, the Neotropical. The Arctogæic is divided into the Malagasy, the Ethiopian, the Oriental, the Holarctic, and the Sonoran. Having otherwise disposed of the Ethiopian and its subdivision the Malagasy,

1 The Geographical History of Mammals; by R. Lydekker A. B., F. R. S., V. P. G. S., etc. Cambridge University Press, 1896. 8vo. pp. 400.

I adopted the three remaining regions, the Oriental, the Holarctic, and the Medicolumbian; the last name being derived from Blanford, and used as a substitute for Sonoran, which have been previously used for a subdivision.

This work is a magazine of information on the subject of which it

treats, and a unique feature is the large amount of reference to the facts of paleontology. This increases the value of the book to the general reader, but cannot be said to be germane to its main object. The introduction of the extinct forms of life necessarily changes the aspect of the faunal lists of a country to a marked degree, nowhere more so than in the Arctogæan Realm. Each geological period had in fact its own geographical distribution of forms, and when all are discovered a series of books on geographical distribution in each period might be written, each different from every other one.

The well-known familiarity of the author of this book with both Mammalian zoology and paleontology, gives it a value which no similar book possesses; and its compact form and fulness of illustration