Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/131

 tBSrART e, 1885.]

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��[^axpeoM, twenty or thirl j days being required Co reach the blghiands from Obok. However, the only rout« pneTiousiy afa[lable took forty or fifty days for the same transit. Transportation la very expensive, rcMliing four or Bve hundred dollars per ton; 90 that

' onlf the most valuable goods, such as arms and am-

P^nanition, can he proEtabty Bent in, and gold, ivory, 1 musk brought out. However, Shoa has a popii-

PlaUooof three million a, intelligent and semi-civUlzed, whose manners and customs approach those of Eu- rope, who are Christians, and aregovemedhy acodeof laws denved from the Institutes of Justinian. The constniction of a raiiway of two or three hundred

i miles in iength would open an immense market for ' e manufactured gootia of Europe. Solelltel's labors ) been rewarded by [lie cross of the legion of

��[iNOBRSOLL'S COUNTRY COUSINS.

\ Mr. Ixgkrsoll's ^ Short studies in nntural

istory ■ is a revised reprint of a number of indsomely illustrated articles on a variety of

bbjecls, which have recently appeared in vari- I popular magazines. Of the twenty-one isptera. three are devoted to birds ; one each

» shrews and seals ; three to oysters and their lemies ; one each to rattlesnakes, squids and leir allies, clk-antlcra, the jximpaoo shells, e caverns at Luray and at Pike's Peak, the wlone, shell-money of the American Indians, On many of these subjects the author rites from personal obser>-ation ; but much of e book, aa might be expected, is compiled. 1 detailing hia own observations, he seldom

janderH from llie mark; but, in treating sub- is at second haml, he is occasionally betrayed

misstatements, either through inattention >rby hisauthurities. whom he is not in position

to properly weigh. We are surprised, for in- stance, that he ahonld soberly repeat the asser- tion that mocking-birds are able to kill iai^e EDakes by beating them with their wings. He "lOwa a not very clear conception of his subject,, in speaking of the shrews, he states Ibat

1 smallest American species belong to the a Blarina ; nor is this the only glaring in-

mracy in the chapter on these animals. A y exoellent account of the large-billed wiiter- rush (Siurus motacilla) is marred ut its ' by the sUitement, ' This is a northern i,' — the opposite of the trnth, when con- ', as here, with the small-billed species. y careless and inexcusable ia the state- . that martens, as well as weasels and , turn white in winter. The interestmg

Kbhist IxsxRaoLi.. Xuw York. Harper

��am. By Kbhist Ixi t, last. Wi |i., ilimtr.

��and very sensible article on * Rattlesnakes in fact and fancy.' however, while not wholly free from errors, treats the subject of ' mimicry ' in relation to the rattles with commendable judg- ment. In the account of star-fishes as enemies of the oyster, there are some overdrawn state- ments respecting the power of multiplication by division possessed by star-fishes. In the chapter on ' Periwinkles and other oyater- pests,' the large ' winkles,' or 'concha,* of the gener.t Sycotypus and Fuigar, are erroneously stated to be unprovided with a lingual ribbon of teeth. The qiiahaug ia said to be usually safe from the ravages of these species ; but this is by no means the case, since at some localities we have found the quahaug to be their principal prey, even the largest specimens not escaping their rapacity. It is stated, on the authority of ' an iut«lligent man.' that Fuigar carica is able to draw even the razor- shell out of its burrow, and devour it ; while tbe fact is that tbis is done by even very young examples. The chapter on ' Seals and seal- hunting in the North Atlantic' is far from accurate in many of its statements; but, strangest of all, under the page-heading 'A bit of comparative anatomy,' we are told that tbe tail of the whale, and of cetaceans in genera), is not a '■ tail ' at all, but is stnictu- rally homologous — having the same compo- nent l>ones — with the hind-flippers of a seal and the hind-limbs of other mammals. Not to cite other frequent evidences of either careless- ness or ignorance, the foregoing will show that a very readable, and in the main commend- able, book may contain faults of a very serious character. The author telle lis the book is written in the hope that it may " contain not only some entertainment, but also helpful sug- gestions for those who take delight in outdoor studies." It certainly does conl.ain a very lai^e amount of interesting information very entertainingly told, few writers of popular natu- ral-history books having either the literary ability or the knowledge shown iiy Mr- Inger- soll in the present series of papers. It is the greater pity that here and there he should be found BO grievously tripping.

Tbe book ia very carefully and attractively printed, and the illuatrations are artistic and fitting ; but even here the frontispiece is en- titled ' Tree toads,' while only one of the two species figured is a tree-toad, though both are placed on a tree; the other being the wood-frog, and as such is correctly referred to in the test. In the explanation of the cut of a shrew's skull (p. 35), ' under side of skull ' should be ' upper side of sknil. '

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