Among the later publications by the United States National Museum are descriptive Notes of New Genera and Species from the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone of North America, by Charles D. Walcott; New North American Acrididæ, found north of the Mexican Boundary, by Laurence Boemer; description of Two New Species of Snakes from California, by Leonhard Stejneger; Report on the Batrachians and Reptiles collected by the United States Fish Commission Steamer Albatross in 1887-'88, by E. D. Cope; Description of New Species of Fishes collected at the Galapagos Islands and along the coast of the United States of Colombia during the same expedition, by D. S. Jordan and C. H. Bollman; and Annotated Catalogue of Insects, collected by the Albatross in 1887-88, by L. O. Howard.
Two essays on Primitive Architecture have recently been published by Barr Ferree. In one, on Sociological Influences, reprinted from The American Naturalist, he tells how the form and arrangement of the dwelling have been modified according as the occupants were a single family or several families living in communism, as they were sedentary or nomadic, timid or warlike, etc. In the other, first published in the American Anthropologist, he takes Climatic Influences for his subject, and shows how they have affected the pitch of roofs, the size of windows, the closeness of walls, the choice of material, etc.
Mr. Alfred R. Wolff (New York) has published a pamphlet on The Ventilation of Buildings, in which he states the problem that the architect has to solve, correcting several popular misconceptions about ventilation, shows by what calculation the proper quantity of fresh air to be supplied to the inmates of a room may be found, and calls attention to the fact that efficient ventilation in cold weather involves additional expense in heating. He then considers several methods of obtaining the required supply and removal of air, and the relation of the usual methods of heating to ventilation.
The Second Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University (published by the University, Ithaca, N. Y.) contains the reports of the several officers of the station, appended to which are Bulletins 5 to 15 inclusive, dealing with the production of lean meat in mature animals; whether heating milk affects the butter made from it; fodders and feeding-stuffs; influences of certain conditions upon the sprouting of seeds; wind-breaks in their relation to fruit-growing, tomatoes, deterioration of manure, etc. Many of the papers are illustrated.
The Fourth Reading-Book in Lippincott's New Series, by Eben H. Davis (Lippincott, 80 cents), is made up of selections in prose and verse from standand English and American authors, including some recent writers, whose works are drawn upon by permission of their publishers. A Chapter of Suggestions for Training the Voice is prefixed, and a list of questions for the use of teachers and a vocabulary are appended. The volume is illustrated.
A collection of Heroic Ballads, edited with notes by D. H. Montgomery, has just been issued (Ginn, 50 cents). The volume contains sixty-eight ballads, among which are many whose excellence has made them long popular, such as Macaulay's Horatius, Ivry, etc.; Aytoun's Execution of Montrose, and Edinburgh after Flodden; Marco Bozzaris, Casabianca, Lochinvar, Barbara Frietchie, Sheridan's Ride, and Curfew must not ring To-night. Others less familiar are Cowper's Boadicea, Scotland's Maiden Martyr, Shan Van Vocht, Song of Marion's Men, The Song of the Camp, and Lowell's Commemoration Ode. Explanatory notes are introduced at the foot of the pages, and indexes to these notes and to the authors represented are appended to the volume.
A very full treatise on whist, entitled American Whist Illustrated, has been written by G. W. P., the author of American Whist and Whist Universal (Houghton, $1.75). He states that this publication is a digest of his two previous volumes, with all the amendments, revisions, and changes in play required by the application of recent inventions and improvements in the practice of the American game. The volume is introduced by a short history of cards, including the game of modern whist; then follow the laws of American whist and the rules of a Boston whist club—the Deschapelles. In his rules for original leads and his analyses of the play of second, third, and fourth hands, the author is liberal with reasons and
