M.A.; of the Rodentia by W. S. Dallas; of the Edentata and Marsupialia by the Editor, and of the first two Orders of Birds by R. Bowdler Sharpe. The ruminating animals are divided into the Bovidae, the Cervidæ, the Tragulidæ, and the Tylopoda. A little more attention to typographical details would have assisted in making this division more clearly perceptible. Thus the first three chapters are headed quite correctly, "Artiodactyla-Ruminantia: Bovidae," while Chapter IV. is headed "The Cervidæ," and Chapter V. has no chief heading at all, although it treats of part of the Cervidæ, the Tragulidæ, and the Tylopodæ. Such a want of uniformity is apt to be a stumbling-block to the student, whose perplexity is no little increased when he finds the same confusion not only in the headings of the chapters, but also in the text itself. Thus, in the chapters on the Edentata the author seems only to have awoke up to the necessity of giving any details of the order as an order, when he had just finished all he had to write about the species contained in the order; and as a consequence, not only is the cart put before the horse, but the account of the order is far too short, and almost nothing is said as to the many anatomical peculiarities characterising it. So much for criticism, which we make in the interests of the work itself, which, if completed as begun, will doubtless form not only a work of useful reference to the general reader, but also will be most useful as an encyclopædia of zoology. To constitute it a complete natural history, of course the other kingdoms of nature will have to be also treated of. For the antler-less deer (Tragulida) Mr. Garrod coined the useful word "deerlets." In respect of thei: toe-bones they seem to stand intermediate between the swine and the true ruminants. Each foot in the common pig possesses four toes, that corresponding to our thumb in the fore-limb and to our great toe in the hind-limb being absent. The bones of all the toes that are present are quite separate from one another just as in man, but those of the outer and inner digits in each limb are smaller than those which bear the larger hoofs. In the true ruminants, as is well known, these larger toes are partially fused together, the bones of the two central digits forming the "cannon bone," while the bones of the other toe are reduced to mere splints, or disappear. In the deerlets these bones are not blended at all in the fore-limbs of the water-deerlet of West Africa; in which, as in all the other species, the digits two and five are perfect from end to end. The want of antlers in either sex is another distin guishing peculiarity. We would gladly have had more | genus, perhaps containing only one or two species, may, details given us of this very interesting group, the scientific names of the species of which are in no one instance given. The chapters on the rodents are very well and carefully written, and the classification adopted is that proposed by Mr. Alston. The orderly sequence of the families in this section of the work might be commended as an example, and the scientific names of the species following their English names, in italics, is an immense improvement on the plan generally adopted throughout this work, and as a proof that the reader will find in this section new as well as interesting information, we quote the following account of perhaps the most remarkable rodent known: "The importance of an animal in the zoological system by no means depends either upon its size or on its abundance in the world; its rank in the classification is decided solely by peculiarities of organisation which distinguish it more or less from its fellows; and in many cases the creatures which are regarded with the most interest by the naturalist are those which seem most to withdraw themselves from general observation. A single by a singular combination of characters, be so completely isolated from all the recognised allied groups that it cannot be placed in any of them, and accordingly a distinct family, possibly even an order, has to be established for its reception. Sometimes subsequent discoveries add to the number of species forming the group thus set up, and in this way the prescience of its founder is confirmed. Sometimes the group remains in its original condition, leaving us, according to circumstances, to regard the anomalous creatures of which it is composed either as a special development of their general type, or as the residue of a group which may have presented a greater variety of forms at some past period of the earth's history. "The latter is perhaps the case with the curious little rodent which alone forms the present family, of which its original describer, M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, writes as follows:-'In its general aspect it somewhat resembles certain opossums, and like these it is pedimanous (having the hind feet hand-like); but these are the only analogies it presents to the marsupials, and in its dental system, as also in the rest of its organisation, we easily see that it belongs to the order Rodentia. It differs, however, from all the members of this group by characters of considerable importance; I may even say that, by some peculiarities of structure it departs from all other mammals, and that we find in it anatomical arrangements of which we have hitherto had examples only in the class of reptiles.' After an exhaustive discussion of the characters of this curious little animal, M. Milne-Edwards comes to the conclusion that it is most nearly related to the members of the following family, and especially to the hamsters, although he found it impossible to unite it with them. In this course he has been followed by other writers. "The general construction of the skull is the same as in the Muridæ, but from the temporal ridges thin plates are developed, which bend downwards, and articulate with similar plates springing from the malar bones, and thus completely arch over the temporal fossæ after a fashion only met with in certain reptiles, and especially in the Hawksbill Turtle (Chelone caretta). The whole upper surface of the skull is covered with minute but perfectly definite granules, arranged with much regularity, and these, which occur in no other mammal, give the skull a very peculiar aspect, such as may be seen in some fishes. As in the Muridæ, there are three molars on each side in each jaw, and these are rooted and strongly tuber cular; the foremost in each series having three and the others each two ridges. Without entering in detail into the peculiarities described at great length by M. MilneEdwards, we may say that in its general structure, and especially in that of the skeleton, the animal is murine, but with a very important distinction, namely, that the collar-bones, which are well developed in the rats and their allies, are here reduced, as in the hares and rabbits, so as to form only two small bony styles freely suspended among the muscles, and that the first toe in the hind feet, although not very long, is so attached as to be opposite to the rest, thus converting the organ into a prehensile hand which the animal uses freely in climbing. The cæcum is small. "In its external characters this animal is as remarkable as in its anatomical structure. In general appearance, as stated by its describer, it has much resemblance to a small opossum, but the bushy tail and the peculiar arrangement of the hair on the body are met with in no marsupiais. The head is small; the general form stout; the limbs short, and the hind ones not much longer than their fellows; and the ears are of moderate size and sparingly clothed with hair. The prevailing colour is blackish-brown, but a triangular spot on the forehead, a streak under each eye, and the tip of the tail, are white; and the long hairs which clothe the body and tail are dark only in the middle, the base and tip being white, as are also a great quantity of finer and shorter hairs which form a sort of under fur. But the chief peculiarity of the coat is to be found in the arrangement of the hairs of the body. The long hairs of the middle of the back and tail, some of which are nearly three inches in length, are capable of being raised into a nearly upright position, forming a sort of crest which gives the animal a very peculiar aspect, and this crest is separated from the pendulous hair of the flanks by a sort of furrow clothed with very peculiar hair of a greyish-tawny colour. These hairs are unlike any others known to occur among mammals. The apical part is of the ordinary construction; but the following portion down to the base is very rugose, and presents a spongy aspect, due to the interlacing, and, so to speak, felting of a multitude of epidermic filaments emanating from radiate cells, which constitute a perfect network of irregular meshes. Within the sort of sheath thus formed longitudinal filaments which break up into bundles of fibrils are to be seen.' "Very little is known as to the habitat of this animal, which M. Milne-Edwards has named Lophiomys imhausi, the former name referring to the crested character of the back, the second commemorating the person who first brought the creature to the notice of naturalists. M. Imhaus, stopping for a few hours at Aden, on his way home from Réunion, saw a living specimen of this rodent in the possession of a Negro, from whom he bought it, but could learn nothing as to its origin. He inferred, how ever, that it had not been brought very far, and that its native country was either Southern Arabia, or some region in Abyssinia, or Nubia, on the other side of the Red Sea. This specimen was brought to France, and lived for about a year and a half in the Garden of Acclimatization in the Bois de Boulogne, where it fed upon maize, vegetables, and bread, slept during the day, and climbed with ease upon chairs and other convenient objects by the aid of its hinder hands. It never took its food in the fore-paws to carry it to the mouth as so many rodents do. When irritated it elevated the crest right down to the end of the tail, and defended itself by biting vigorously." The chapter on the fossil Rodentia contains a large number of facts packed into a small compass; reference will be found in it to very many of the recent discoveries of rodent remains in the miocene deposits in America, and a detailed account is given of that remarkable fossil form called Mesotherium cristatum, by M. Serres, and for which Mr. Alston has formed a section of the rodents called Hebetidentata from their incisor teeth, which, instead of having the chisel-like edge so characteristic of the incisor teeth of all rodents, are continuously enamelled and are four in number in the lower jaw, and two in the upper. The skull and teeth of this strange form are figured; as Mr. Alston says, "It appears to have been a survivor, to pliocene times, of a much earlier type, which represented an era at which the Rodents were not yet clearly marked off from their allies. In fact, Mesotherium seems to continue into the order Glires, that line of affinity which Prof. Flower has pointed out as extending from the typical Ungulates through Hyracodon, Homalodontotherium, Nesodon, and Toxodon." The following is an account of Hoffmann's sloth (Cholapus Hoffmanni): "This is a sloth with two clawed fingers on the fore, and with three claws on the hinder extremities. Living specimens are occasionally brought to Europe, especially from Porto Rico, so that its general appearance may now and then be studied at the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park. If it be looked at there in the day-time, it certainly merits the name of sloth, for it resembles a bundle of long, light, brown hair, fixed on the top of a bar of wood close to an upright branch, or huddled up in a corner on the ground; but in the morning, and also late in the evening, the creature begins to move slowly, and to look out for the food put for its use on the floor of the den. All the Hoffmann's sloths have pale brown hair, whiter at the tips, and a white face, showing a brown band across the nose, extending to a ring round each eye. They have also a long and full crest of hair on the neck, and the hair on the limbs is darker than that of the rest of the animal. Dr. Peters, who discovered this sloth, examined the skeleton, and found only six vertebræ in the neck, and in this it differs from the Cholapus just noticed. "When its food, consisting of carrots and lettuce, and bread-and-milk, is put down in the morning it is soon in movement, and enjoys its milk hanging down from a bar with its hind legs, and resting its back on the floor of the cage. It seizes the food between the claws and the long straight palm of the fore-foot, and passes it into its mouth, chewing actively with the molar teeth, especially with the first, which are sharp. It cares little for the spectators, and when it has finished, slowly mounts up into a corner of its little den and settles down to sleep. In the evening it becomes lively, for it is, and, indeed, all sloths are, nocturnal in habit. The hairless snout, of a light red tint, the absence of smellers,' the little eyes with a few hairs around them, and the broad forehead, give the animal a curious appearance. The hair is brushed back on the forehead, and comes around the very small ears on to the cheeks, and is whitey-brown, and this same tint is seen over the whole of the back in long slender hairs. But the under hair is light red or red-brown. The long and slender hand, with its two claws, contrasts with the rather bulky upper part of the limbs, and the flesh-coloured palms are very remarkable. "The whole of the sloths lead very monotonous lives; their food is ever within their reach, and it is abundant, and they do not appear to have to compete much or at all in the struggle for existence with other animals. Their enemies are snakes and the carnivora, but it is evident that they are much more readily preserved by their habits from the latter than from the former. Leading such an uneventful existence, there is no great call upon their nervous energies or intelligence, and these are at a low pitch. The brain consequently is very simple in regard to convolutions, which are few in number and shallow." The portion of this volume devoted to the birds is what might have been expected from so well-known an ornithologist as Mr. Sharpe. In the preparation of the chapters on the anatomy of a bird, he acknowledges his obligations to his colleague in the British Museum, Mr. Jeffery Bell, and an excellently well written chapter it is, though it ends a little abruptly; and the periods of incubation in the case of some of the best known birds might usefully have been added. In the present volume, the two first orders, that of the birds of prey and of the picarian birds, are treated of, and the rest of the orders will probably form volume iv., the publication of which, we trust, will not be long delayed. While aware of the vast multitude of the feathered throng which Mr. Sharpe has to pass under review, might we suggest to him that it is very important that when he gives a paragraph to a sub-family, he might so arrange it as to let the reader discover without difficulty what species quoted really belonged to it? Thus, the family of the cockatoos is of the same value, so far arrangement on p. 310 is very perplexing. The subas classification goes, as that of the Amazon parrots or of the Conures, and yet there is no uniformity, so far as typographical details go, to indicate this. If there be a genus Androglossa, it is not alluded to, and for want of quoting, at least one species of the genus Nasiterna in the preceding paragraph, the "it" that was found at Mafoor by von Rosenberg must remain an unknown bird to the reader. There are said to be about thirty species of Amazon parrots known; which, then, is "the Amazon parrot" figured? The text is appealed to for an answer in vain. Not two lines are devoted to the Macaws. The same is very much the case all through: thus, the honey-guide is figured after Keuleman's sketch; eleven species are known, but neither is the name given of the species figured, nor is the name given of the species whose habits are described. The common goat-sucker, the whip-poor-will, and the lyre-tailed nightjar, are figured, and yet no scientific names for them are to be found. No doubt both author and editor will agree with us that the value of this work would be greatly added to if the good example set in this matter by Mr. Dallas were followed. The illustrations are in general very good, but is there not one egg too many in the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet? The general get-up of the volume-type, paper, and binding-are all that could be wished, and despite the few things in it which we think might be amended, we most cordially recommend it and its predecessors as very excellent volumes on the natural history of the mammals and birds. PROF. HUXLEY ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION A T the lecture by Prof. Silvanus Thompson, on "Apprenticeships," at the Society of Arts last week, Prof. Huxley was in the Chair, and in inviting discussion on the paper, said he would commence it by making a few remarks himself. He had listened to Prof. Thompson's paper with gratification, not only on account of the good sense it embodied, but also for a more selfish reason, inasmuch as it entirely accorded with the views which he, coming to the matter from a different side, had himself expressed. Unfortunately he had no personal acquaintance with the ordinary kinds of work in what were called handicrafts, but he ventured some two years ago in that very room to point his remarks with respect to technical education by the knowledge he possessed of medical education. He then expressed a hope that something real and practical would soon be done by the City Guilds, which had done him the honour of consulting him on this subject of technical education, and the advice he gave them was in precise accordance with the principles which Prof. Thompson had laid down that night. Whatever might be the merits or demerits of the old system of apprenticeship, it was as thoroughly doomed in the different kinds of ordinary handicrafts as it had been long doomed in physic. The only alternatives appeared to him to be of two kinds. In the first place, we ought to bring within the reach of the young people who were employed in our great manufactures the means of carrying on their education in the particular branches of business with which they were respectively occupied beyond the time during which the necessities of practical life obliged them to be at work in the workshop-that is to say, for a period corresponding virtually with what used to be their apprenticeship. One of his suggestions, therefore, was that there should be established in the neighbourhood of the great centres of industry schools to which young boys who are learning certain handicrafts could resort in order to receive instruction which would qualify them to work skilfully and intelligently at their trade. He likewise suggested that the guilds should employ part of their large funds in the establishment of a central institution, which should do for the teaching-power of the country that which such institutions as the École des Arts et Métiers in France, and the Polytechnicum at Zurich, did in their respective countries. In England there was not only a total absence of schools to which apprentices could resort, but there were no teachers competent to teach in such schools, even if they were established. He thought that the suggestions he made to the guilds were of a sound and practical nature, and calculated to advance the interests of technical education in this country. He understood Prof. Thompson to object to the existing elementary training in our Board schools on the ground of its technical nature and of its occupying the minds of the student entirely with book learning and matters which had no sort of bearing on his future life. No one endeavoured more earnestly than he, when he occupied a seat at the School Board, to remedy the evil of the exclusively book character of our ordinary school instruction. He did not entertain the slightest doubt that an extension of the Kindergarten system, including the use of tools and the knowledge of elementary machines, was a matter of great importance, but he could not think that the evil of not giving hand-work in the elementary schools was after all very great. Although it was a great thing to make skilled workmen, yet it was much more important to make intelligent men. The four or five years during which children ordinarily remained at school were not too much to devote to even an exclusive study of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to the acquirement of some intelligent knowledge of geography, the elements of history, and the rudiments of physical science. On this point he might observe that no pupil was admitted to the Écoles d'Apprentis in Paris until he was thirteen years old, or unless he presented his certificate of elementary educrtion. If we attained one half or a quarter of the good results reached in the Écoles d'Apprentis, the improvement in the condition of the average British workman would be exceedingly great. In proposing a vote of thanks to Prof. Thompson for his paper, Prof. Huxley expressed his belief that, as far as London was concerned, it would be a scandal and a robbery if a single shilling were asked for out of the general revenues of the country for technical education. The City of London Guilds possessed enormous wealth, which had been left to them for the benefit of the trades they represent. If the people did not insist on the wealth being applied to its proper purpose, they deserved to be taxed down to their shoes. It would be well if those who had charge of these matters in the city of London would understand that they were morally bound to do this work for the country, and he hoped if they continued to neglect the obligation they would be legally compelled to do it. NOTES No more than justice has been done to Sir Joseph Whitworth by granting him a prolongation for five years for his process of manufacturing fluid-compressed steel. The powerful evidence brought before the Committee of the Privy Council as to the utility of this steel could not be resisted. Mr. James Wright, the Engineer-inChief of the Navy, stated that the invention "has met a want long felt for the principal parts of marine engines which have been subject to failures;" from his experience of it he has perfect trust in it. Mr. Hotchkiss, the patentee of the revolving cannon used by the French Government, stated that he never had occasion to reject a single barrel of the steel. The evidence from Mr. J. Davidson, of Woolwich, Mr. Purdey, the wellknown gun-maker, and others, showed that by getting rid of the air-cells the steel answered perfectly, and is a better metal than had ever been produced by any previous process. Their Lordships were satisfied that it would in all probability be highly useful "in carrying out the highest achievements of engineering skill." THE long-expected experiments by the Thunderer Gun Committee commenced on Tuesday at the proof butts on the Government marshes, Woolwich. In connection with these experiments, Sir William Palliser organised, and last week carried out, a successful series of experiments with a doublyloaded gun, in order to ascertain whether double-loading was or was not the cause of the bursting of the Thunderer's gun. Five. double charges were fired, each successive charge being increased in length. No sign of flaw or damage could be perceived. A similar result attended experiments with an air space between the powder charge and the base of the projectile. But when shall we have a gunner like Froude to abolish experiments on the scale of 12 inches to a foot? The navy now build a paraffin boat for a few shillings, instead of a real one costing a quarter of a million to experiment with. What will the experiments, including the bursting of the gun, cost? If smaller experiments cannot be devised, no one has a right to say that Palliser's experiments on a smaller scale teach us nothing. WE are glad to see that decisive action has been taken on the side of the United States for the acquisition of the ground in the neighbourhood of Niagara Falls as an International Park, and so preserve visitors from the innumerable annoyances to which they are at present subject. At a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the New York State Survey, on November 20, Director Gardner, of the Survey, presented conclusions arrived at by the board at its meeting in Niagara last September, illustrated with maps, diagrams, &c. The plan proposed is to take a strip along the American bank, varying from 100 to 600 feet in width, extending two miles from the new suspension bridge to the head of the rapids, and plant it with trees, to shut out from view the ugly bazaars, manufactories, booths, and hotels which destroy the natural scenery of the banks. The plan also involves the purchase of Goat and Bath Islands, which, the Commission has reason to believe, can be bought. The proposed park will extend to and include Canal Street, in the village, over which the State now has jurisdiction. Director Gardner places the total amount required to secure all the property needed at 800,000 dols. The Commissioners thought the estimate too low. A report recommending that the State shall purchase the property will be prepared by Messrs. Dorsheimer, Stout, and Barnard. It is the unanimous opinion of the Commission that New York should proceed to reclaim her side of Niagara without reference to what Canada may do. One map, shown by Director Gardner, indicated that the recession of the Falls since 1842, when a trigonometrical survey was made, has been something over 100 feet. FRENCH meteorologists have observed a curious analogy between the present season and the severe winter 1788-1789. This winter was observed and described by Cotte, one of the most celebrated French meteorologists. The frosty weather set in on November 25, and ended on January 13. On December 25 intervened a partial thaw. The end of January and February were relatively genial, and the frosty weather again set in on March 4, and kept on up to the end of the month. Frost was so intense that wine was congealed in cellars. The thickness of ice on the Seine was 18 inches, and the breaking of the ice happened only on January 20. Note was carefully taken of the minima observed in a large number of Continental cities. It was observed that the minimum of temperature happened in Germany on December 18, in France on the 31st, and in Russia only on January 5. During frosty weather the wind was almost always blowing from north-east with clear sky. Sometimes it was blowing from south, but then snow was falling, sometimes with great abundance. THE quantity of snow which fell in Paris during the day of December 4 and the ensuing night, according to a calculation made by a member of the Municipal Council, amounts to 245,000,000 cubic feet for the interior of the fortifications. It has been estimated that the expense for removing by handwork and carting this immense quantity of snow, would be about 800,000 francs. THE dates of the freezing of the Neva have been carefully observed from 1703. It has never frozen sooner than in 1805, on October 16, nor later than in 1740, when it froze on December 28. This year the date is November 15; the mean date is November 13. SOME curious statistics of gas-lighting in Paris have been published recently. The greatest duration of public lighting is 14h. 30m., and smallest 5h.. 25m. The cost of gas for public and private establishments is 2,000,000l., about one pound per head for each inhabitant of Paris. The total consumption of gas is 6,500,000,000 cubic feet. In 1880 the Paris Municipality intends to enlarge its lighting expenses by 16,000l., and 8,000!. for establishing new gas-lamps. No provision appears to be made for electricity. THE excavations at Olympia under the auspices of the German Government have been resumed this winter with a force of 100 workmen. A statue of Nemesis, and heads of Titus, of a kneeling infant, and of Paionios' Nike have already been unearthed this season. The total number of works of art thus far excavated is sixty-seven, consisting of forty-one figures and twenty-six heads. WE regret to have to record the death of Madame Louis Figuier, the wife of the well-known author of so many popular works in science. Madame Figuier has written a number of plays, and has been a fellow-worker with her husband in the publication of his "Théâtre Scientifique," which has appeared quite recently anonymously. DR. H. TRIMEN, who leaves England to assume his appointment in Ceylon in January, is succeeded in the editorship of the Journal of Botany by Mr. James Britten, F.L.S., of the Botanical Department of the British Museum. A METEOROLOGICAL station has been opened at Prato, thus connecting Fiesole and Florence with Pescia and Lucca. TELEGRAPHIC communication between Paris and other cities of France and the Continent has been almost interrupted by snow. It is only in Germany that the telegraphic service has continued almost unimpeded, owing to the establishment of subterranean communications. August Weismann's "Studies in the Theory of Descent," with a MESSRS. SAMPSON LOW AND CO. are about to publish Dr. prefatory notice by Charles Darwin, F.R.S., translated and edited, with notes, by Raphael Meldola. Part I.-On the Seasonal Dimorphism of Butterflies (with two coloured plates). Part II.-On the Origin of the Markings of Caterpillars; On Phyletic Parallelism in Metamorphic Species (with six coloured plates). Part III.-On the Transformation of the Mexican Axolotl into Amblystoma; On the Mechanical Conception of Nature. The German text, we are informed, has been carefully revised and brought down to date by the author, under whose supervision the chromo lithographic plates have been accurately re-drawn and engraved. WE understand that Mr. Anderson's long-promised work on Lightning Conductors will now be issued in a few days. Messrs. Spon, of Charing Cross, are the publishers. THE well-known Boulak Museum at Cairo has been undergoing repairs, and the fine collection was deposited in a neighbouring warehouse under what seemed proper guardianship. But, the Times correspondent writes, robbers the other day broke in through the roof, and they must have been robbers of a certain rank of intellect, for some 80 or 100 scarabees of great value pecuniarily, and impossible to replace, as they related to the early dynasties, were abstracted, although they were things of no apparent worth to an ignorant person. A CORRESPONDENT of the North China Herald understands that the director of the magnetic and meteorological observatory |