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THE ZOOLOGIST.

with a considerable human endowment, but in the course of life falls far away from it; man starts in life with a still greater portion of human or ultra-human endowment, and to a less extent falls from it in adult life, approaching more and more to the ape."

Woman is therefore on these lines not degraded by the comparison of an infantile diathesis.

Whether, however, the reader who peruses the wonderful array of facts marshalled in this book—and there is not a dull page—will come to the same conclusion as the author is a very open question, but assent or dissent on this point is unnecessary to the real value of the volume, which may be called a monograph of human sexual variation. In conclusion, we heartily concur with Mr. Ellis in the view that "To arrive at any reliable knowledge of mental sexual differences it is no longer enough to formulate suggestive impressions or brilliant theories. These have a certain interest and value, it is true, but they have no part in any knowledge that can be called science. It is along the lines of precise experiments that we may reasonably hope to obtain a more definite and objective knowledge of mental differences."


Society for the Protection of Birds.—"Educational Series." Edited by H.E. Dresser, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Part I., containing Nos. 1 to 11 inclusive.'Knowledge' Office. 1897.

There sometimes seems an impression abroad that ornithologists are a body of enthusiasts who seek to destroy birds in order that they may study them afterwards; and it is not long since that the present Editor was told that 'The Zoologist' was a magazine devoted to chronicling the details of bird slaughter. At all events the "Society for the Protection of Birds" receives the support of some of the ornithologists well known to our readers, for these "Educational Series" are not only edited by Mr. H.E. Dresser, but include among the contributors the names of Thomas Southwell, O.V. Aplin, and J.A. Harvie-Brown.

It is to be hoped that this little publication may be circulated broadcast over the country; in fact, we should be glad to see it made the occupation for a few ornithological colporteurs. We are not among the fanatics who decry the necessary process of addition to the ornithological cabinets, which has afforded us