Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. Vol. I, for 1881, pp. 466; Vol. II, for 1882, pp. 467. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
The "Bulletin" is now published by the authority of an act of Congress, in two forms, a part of the edition being distributed signature by signature as the matter is collected and put in type, while the other part is bound up at the end of the year in an annual volume. Two classes of readers are thus accommodated those who wish to get the matter as fast as it appears, as news, and those who prefer to have it in permanent form, in bound volumes. The two volumes now before us, being the first published under the new system, contain numerous articles on a variety of subjects relating to the description, propagation, catching, habits, and care of fish, the value of which is both scientific and practical; of American and of foreign origin; and original, relating to the home observations of the agents or direct correspondents of the commission, or selected from an extensive range of living ichthyological literature, and the reports of other countries. We regret the absence of an adequate classified index to the volumes. A copious general alphabetical index is given, and an index by authors, and they should not be dispensed with; but, in a work marked by the fullness of matter that characterizes these volumes, another index seems to be needed, giving the titles of articles.
Animal Life: Being the Natural History of Animals. By E. Perceval Wright, M. D. London, Paris, and New York: Cassel, Petter, Galpin & Co. Pp. 618. $2.50.
The author of this attractive work is Professor of Botany in the University of Dublin. He has prepared his book especially in view of "that class of readers who, while they take an intelligent interest in the study of natural history, have but little taste for the technical details which would naturally form the bulk of a scientific manual on the subject. With this view, nearly two thirds of the contents have been devoted to the mammals and birds. Nevertheless, the other classes have not been neglected, but a fair degree of consideration is given to the reptiles, fishes, insects, mollusks, and the lower divisions of the animal kingdom. The book has grown to its present form out of the series of lectures on zoölogy which Dr. Wright delivered several years ago to the natural history classes of his university, and the matter of it, enriched with copious citations from travelers distinguished for their researches in natural history, has been systematized and reduced to its present comprehensive and connected form, under advantages which only long-maturing thought can confer, and which a book prepared to meet a present demand can not so well enjoy. The systematic method is faithfully followed, and the animals are described by classes, orders, families, and the other related groups, in regular order, with the scientific distinctions carefully noted, so that a clear view is given of all that comes within the scope of the work. The adaptation of the style to the mind not familiar with technical language, the beauty of the broad pages with their clean paper, sharp type, and the profusion of appropriate and excellently executed illustrations, make the work eminently pleasant and suitable to the family and to general readers, and one which should attract all the young, who have any taste in that direction, to the study of natural history.
Mineral Resources of the United States. By Albert Williams, Jr. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 813.
This volume represents one of the divisions of the United States Geological Survey under the direction of the Hon. J. W. Powell. It is intended to furnish an account of every mineral, whether a metallic ore, a useful salt, a building material, or a fertilizer, that is economically mined in the United States, with notes of the localities where they are found, and estimates of the production and trade value of the stuff.
Ueber das galvanische Verhalten der Amalgame des Zinkes und des Cadmiums (On the Galvanic Behavior of the Amalgams of Zinc and of Cadmium). By William L. Robb, A. B. Berlin: Gustav Schade. Pp. 30.
This is the inaugural dissertation by the author, an American student, on receiving at the University of Berlin, in August last, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
