NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
There is perhaps not so much to be said which is new on this subject, as there is on some other zoological Phyla. We have in recent years been able to read the 'Introduction to the Study of Mammals,' by Flower and Lydekker, and one of those authors has since considerably amplified his subject in the 'Royal Natural History.' Besides these publications, "Mammalia" may be said to be one of the zoological subjects now in vogue, and the monthly descriptions of new and subspecies is astounding to those who thought that the mammalian census was approximately worked out. In America the study is advancing by leaps and bounds, and when a similar enterprise is shown in other zoological regions, our present knowledge of the smaller mammals will probably be shown as quite fragmentary. Moreover, the describer of a mammal is always sure of an audience. To the uninitiated, the larger the form the greater its zoological importance, and the diagnosis of an Okapia will be discussed by those who are oblivious to the existence of a freshwater Medusa. A Gorilla constitutes a more likely topic to draw a sympathetic audience at a British Association meeting than does the story of the life-history of a Nautilus, though sometimes the danger of fever is sufficient to direct a temporary public interest in so minute and humble a form of life as the Mosquito. In the work under notice, Mr. Beddard does good service in again attacking a current mammalian heresy, viz. "that ancient quadrupeds are huger than their modern representatives," in many cases the position being reversed. "The Mammalia first appeared upon the earth in a tentative and hesitating way; they had not cast off many of the characters of their supposed reptilian forefathers; they shrank from observation and destruction by their small size,
