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No. 409.] RE VIEWS OF RECENT LITERA TURE. 59
impartingthe fascination to his readers seems to us justified. The
storyis certainly"light," but whether it is "too prolific of natural
history" may be questioned.
The scene of the storyis laid in the forestsof the Athabasca, in
which a lad of fourteen spends the winter in the charge of a half-
breed trapper. The interestof the storylies in the successful efforts
of the animals of the region to save their skins fromthe trapper,and
later in the endeavors of Mooswa, a moose whom the boy once
befriended, to save the boy from starvation.
If the book is an attemptto convey, in the formof a story,knowl-
edge of the ways of animals, it is a failure,for whatevertruthit may
contain is obscured by a bewildering amount of romance. Thus
when the fox is caught in a trap, the beaver gnaws off his foot,and
the Canada Jay sews the skin over the stump withhis beak. If the
author has tried to make a good tale, afterthe patternof the Jungle
Books, he has failed throughlack of the requisitelliteraryskill. The
storyis presumablyintended for boys, but even boys, if fed on Kip-
ling and Seton-Thompson,would tire of the idle chatterwhich is put
into the mouths of the principal interlocutors. The book is by no
means bad there are humorous situations, and even moments of
interest, approaching excitement. A decade ago it might have
proved acceptable, but the standard of excellence in such matters
has been set too high, by the creators of Mowgli and Wab, for any
but skillful artiststo hope for success in the field. The illustrations
are far superiorto the text. R. H.
Miller's Key totheLand MammalsofEasternNorthAmerica.'-
Probablyno recentcontribution of NorthAmerican
to the literature
mammalogy will be so gratefully
and widelywelcomedas Mr. Mil-
ler's briefsynopsisof theland mammalsof easternNorthAmerica.
So greathas been theincreasein our knowledgeof thesubjectdur-
ingthe last fifteenyears,so radical thechangesin nomenclature, so
different the presentmethodsof investigation, and so scatteredthe
literaturethat has been the outcomeof this renaissance,thatonly
thefewspecialistsengagedin the workcould hope to keep in touch
withthesubject. The generalstudenthencefoundhimself hopelessly
lostin intricatelabyrinths in any attempthe mightmaketo gain a
clear conceptionof the resultsthus far reached,in even a limited
1 Miller, GerritS. Key to the Land Mammals of Eastern North America,
Bulletini of the New Yor-k State Museum, vol. viii (October, i900), NO. 33,
pp. 59-i60.
6o THE AMERICA N NA TURALIST. [VOL. XXXV.
field. Mr. Miller's Key gives at once a bird's-eye view of the
scene, and directs the inquirer where furtherinformationmay be
obtained.
The geographical scope of the work includes " the entire mam-
malian fauna of the Atlantic slope of North America north of the
southernboundary of the upper austral zone," or the Atlantic slope
from Hudson Bay to the southern boundary of what is commonly
known as the " Carolinian Fauna." The Mississippi drainage area
is thus whollyexcluded. A brief introductiondefines the life zones
of the region and the plan of the Key, followed by a synopsis,giving
a classified list of the higher groups, species and subspecies. Then
comes the Key proper,supplying diagnoses of all the groups from
class to subspecies, subfamilies and subgenera excepted. Under
each species and subspecies are given "references to (i) the first
publication of the specific or subspecitic name, (2) first use of the
binomial or trinomial combination, and (3) a recent monographic
paper in which the form is described in detail. . .. The type
locality is given in parenthesis after the first reference. The
accented syllable of all technical names is marked by an accent;
and the derivationof each name is placed in parenthesis at the end
of the diagnosis." A paragraph, in larger type, follows the diag-
nosis, giving the distribution of the species or subspecies under
consideration. The Key is thus intended to give the correctnomen-
clature for all the forms treated,with a clue to their identification,
and a brief statement of their geographical ranges, generally inci-
cated by a referenceto the " lifezone " theyinhabit. This admirable
brochure is thus what it claims to be, a " key " to the subject, and an
aid to the acquisition of furtherinformation. That the work was
greatly needed, has been well done, and will prove a "boon" to
seekers of knowledge in this field,it is needless to furtheraffirm.
The Key was originally planned to form part of Mr. Miller's
recently published " Preliminary List- of the Mammals of New
York" (see 4mericai NJiaturalist, April, I900, pp. 3i6-3i8), but
"soon grew to the proportionsof an independent paper," and was
finallyextended to include a larger area. The Key, we regret to
see, repeats the few errors of nomenclature of the list, to one of
which attention has already been called in this journal (oc. cit.,
p. 3i8), namely,the highly questionable basis of the specificname
"americanus" for the Virginia deer. Another case is the use of the
specificname "hudsonica Desmarest " (I803) for the otter. As we
have already shown (Buel. 4mer. Alus. Nat. 1ist., Vol. X, I898,
No. 409.] REVIEWS OF RCEAG T LITERATURE. 6i
pp. 459, 460), canadensis Schreber (1 778) is perfectlytenable forthis
species, for those who accept names based on plates, as does Mr.
Miller in the case of the mink,Putorius vison(Schreber), which rests
on the same basis as Lutra canadensis (Schreber) for the otter.
Moreover, the name "canadensis" had been in almost universal use
for this species till two years ago, when an unfortunateattemptwas
made to replace it by "hudsonica," of twenty-fiveyears later origin.
Another case that may be mentioned is the use of the generic
name "Rosmarus "for the walruses instead of the prior name "Odo-
benus." Rosmarus Scopoli dates from 1777; Odobenus Brisson
from i756, becoming perfectlytenable fromBrisson's second edition
of his RegfneAnimal, published in 1762, or fifteenyears before the
tenable date of Rosmarus. We can hardly believe Mr. Miller has
given these points due consideration.
There are no really new innovationsin the technical nomenclature,
but a new subspecies of the common deer is described on p. 83,
under the name Odocoileus americanus borealis. The number of
species treated is 105, with thirty-three
additional subspecies.
J.A. A.
PectoralGirdleof Reptiles.- ProfessorMax Fiirbringer's 1 long
interruptedstudies on the comparativeanatomyof the pectoral
girdlesand theirmusclesand nervesin vertebrates have been con-
tinuedin a fourthpartdevotedto theseorgansin theAmphisbaenia
and the reptiles. The first150 pages are devotedto an extended
accountof the skeletalelementsof the pectoralgirdles,breastbone,
and humerus,includingthese parts in the fossil as well as in the
recentrepresentatives of the groups underconsideration. This is
followedby an accountof the nervesto the shouldermuscles,after
whicha veryexhaustivedescription of the shouldermusclesthem-
selves is given. A finaldiscussionof over I50 pages deals in a
comparativewaywiththe facts broughtforwardin the descriptive
part and concludeswithremarkson the phylogenetic relationships
of thegroupsof reptilesto one another,
to thebirds,and to thelower
vertebrates as shownby the structureof the parts described. The
illustrations,some seventyfiguresin all, are beautifully
clear and
exact,and withthetextconstitute a workof monumental proportions.
P.
1 Furbringer,M. Zur vergleichendenAnatomie des Brustschulterapparates
und der Schulterumskiln, Jena. Zeitschrzfz
fur Naturwissenschaft,Bd. xxxiv
(September,1900), pp. 215-7i8, Taf. XIII-XVII.
