Rain and Snow in the United States and Adjacent Parts of North, Central, and South America;" "Work on the Fresh-Water Algæ," by Dr. Horatio C. Wood, of Philadelphia; and Prof. Newcombe's "Investigations into the Orbit of Uranus." The Institution has also in preparation "Vocabularies of the Indian Languages of North America;" a "Hypsometrical Map of North America;" and the "Meteorological Observations" of the Institution up to 1870.
The report also contains the late Prof. Agassiz's "Narrative of his Expedition from Boston through the Straits of Magellan to San Francisco," and a number of valuable papers by foreign authorities on various scientific subjects, published because of their inaccessibility to students generally.
The Construction of Mill-Dams. Springfield, Ohio: James Leffel & Co. 312 pp., 8vo. Price, $2.50.
This is a republication in book-form of a series of articles first published in Leffel's Milling and Mechanical News. It advances no new theory on the subject, but presents a description of various plans that have been tried and found effective in different localities. The work is more descriptive than scientific in character, but it contains some apparently valuable suggestions on the building of small and economical dams, such as are required for a single grain or lumber mill. Descriptions are given of the Housatonic Dam, in Connecticut, the Moline Dam, on the Mississippi, and other remarkable dams. A simple and seemingly sufficient method is given for determining the available power of small streams. The work is admirably illustrated throughout.
Theory of the Glaciers of Savoy. By M. Le Chanoine Rendu. Translated by Alfred Wills. With Additions by Tait, Ruskin, and Forbes. London: Macmillan, 1874. Price, $3.00.
This is a work of some historic interest, being one of the earliest contributions to the elucidation of glacial phenomena. The merit of Rendu, as a pioneer explorer in this field, is now generally recognized; and whatever of truth there was in his views has been absorbed into the common literature of the subject. Nevertheless, it is well to have his valuable book in an accessible form. But we are afraid that its intrinsic interest would have been insufficient to secure its translation, and that the reason of its appearance at the present time is to be sought elsewhere. The train of names upon the title-page gives a clew to the purpose for which it is now reproduced. A clique of Scotchmen, in getting up a biography of Principal Forbes, has contrived to get into a quarrel with Tyndall, in regard to the allotment of the honors of discovery, and Rendu's book is now used as a means of bespattering the Royal Institution professor. We publish Prof. Tyndall's review of the work, and readers who wish to go deeper into the matter can consult the book itself.
Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.
The last number of the Bulletin is full of interesting matter. It contains, besides other entomological contributions, several papers on the study of butterflies, by A. K. Grote, Samuel H. Scudder, and others. In "Contributions to the Geology and Physical Geography of the Lower Amazons," Prof. C. Frederick Hartt gives some valuable information on the topographical features, drainage, and geological formation of the Ereré-Monte-Alegre district of South America. The number is embellished with numerous fine plates.
Anatomy of the Invertebrata. By C. T. H. v. Siebold. Translated from the German, with Additions and Notes, by Waldo I. Burnett, M. D. Boston: James Campbell 1874. 8vo, pp. 470. Price, $5.00.
This work was first published in 1848, and, five years later, was rendered into English, with notes and additions, by-an American translator. Since its appearance, the subject of which it treats has been rapidly advanced, twenty-five years of observation and active work having added hosts of new facts, and, in many instances, totally changed the interpretation of old ones. Yet the work is now reissued in its old form, without so much as a recognition of later investigations, or of the changes that have taken place in methods of classification. The book is also defective in the total absence of illustrations, which are indispen-
