time, though probably not in our own personal period—then will many brilliant theorists see the hidden things made bare. Meanwhile, as we turn over these beautiful illustrations, many questions arise as to the success in subterfuge, or the apparent absence of concealment in the arrangement of eggs and nests. Here we may rely on the whole mise en scène, for as we remember hearing Boucicault declaim in the 'Octoroon'—alas! too many years ago—"the apparatus never lies."
The present volume is equal to its predecessors in illustration, but perhaps compares less favourably by absence of narrative, the treatment being more descriptive of the birds and nests themselves. The representation of the Dabchick's nest—covered and uncovered—at p. 39 well exhibits the conscious strategy of a bird.
Naturalists will welcome a new catalogue of the Chiroptera, the late Dr. Dobson's catalogue of the Bats published in 1878, naturally now requiring great revision and many additions. The inception of the present work appears to be as follows. The late Prof. Carl Peters, who presided at the Berlin Museum from 1857 to 1883, proposed to publish a monograph of the Bats, for which no fewer than seventy-five plates were prepared by the artists, F. Wagner and G. Mützel. After the death of Prof. Peters these plates remained—without text—in the hands of the publisher, and Dr. Matschie has stepped into the breach, and will provide from his own pen a descriptive synopsis of the whole order, while such additional plates will be given as are necessary to bring the work into line with present zoological knowledge.
Part I. is devoted to the Megachiroptera, or Fruit Bats, and the whole work is intended to be completed in four instalments.
We hope to give a fuller notice on the completion of the work.
