# The Zoologist/4th series, vol 6 (1902)/Issue 730/Notices of New Books

Published in The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6, issue 730, p. 154–157
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
This is the first volume of what will be a very large work, and there is little doubt that it will be completed; for American enterprise is to-day beyond any other in zoology, thanks to a fostering government. The faunistic area dealt with is from the Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies, and other Islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the Galapagos Archipelago. This publication will be considered a fragment in the years to come, when the "Birds of America" will be written—from the Arctic Lands to Patagonia, for that must be the America of the future, if political destinies ever cast a preliminary shadow.
Mr. Ridgway defines ornithology as comprising two distinct studies—systematic or scientific, and popular. The scientific is stated to deal with the structure and classification of birds, their synonymies, and technical descriptions. The "popular" is estimated as treating "of their habits, songs, nesting, and other facts pertaining to their life-histories." Believing science, as long since taught, to be "organized common sense," we should prefer to call both these phases of study scientific ornithology—the one technical, the other bionomical. The systematic problem has been abundantly considered by Mr. Ridgway, and much is advanced that is new. In the Fringillidæ, Dr. Sharpe's Coccothraustinæ, Fringillinæ, and Emberizinæ are estimated as "so-called subfamilies" and "unnatural groups." From such questions, which must be left to the ultimate decision of the higher criticism, we may at least glance at some others. It is to be regretted that the author recognizes "trinomials" as a "necessary evil," and, as a logical sequence, the Cardinal Grosbeak is referred to as ​"Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis." In other points most ornithologists will cordially agree, especially in the remark that "the correction of an author's orthographical errors is a pernicious practice, though much in vogue; 'science is not literature,' neither has it any concern with what an author should have done or meant to do, but only with what he actually did."
The synonymic references to the species are very ample, and have been compiled with much care. The book is essentially a publication that cannot be neglected, and must be consulted by all who study this avian fauna.
This, the last volume received, maintains its scientific value and excellence in illustration. No fewer than twenty contributors are answerable for its contents, and it is, of course, impossible to give a notice of each essay. Capt. R.W. Shufeldt records his "experiments in photography of live fishes," and nine plates attest the success of his efforts, which were made at the aquaria of the U.S. Fish Commission building in Washington. Prof. Mead is the writer of an elaborate paper on "The Natural History of the Star-fish." Among traditions attached to this animal was one relating to their mode of locomotion, as "that of clinging together in great clusters, and rolling along the bottom with the tide." Prof. Mead had seen balls of Star-fish clinging to each other, but upon examination it was found that the "Stars" were all endeavouring to devour some animal held in their midst. For the purpose of testing the ability of Star-fishes to creep over soft surfaces, vaseline was smeared thickly on a vertical glass plate, and on the under side of a horizontal glass plate, and these plates were submerged in an aquarium. Star-fishes measuring two or three inches from tip to tip were observed to travel over both these surfaces with no apparent difficulty. These experiments were made in an economic interest, and to solve the problem of how to prevent the invasion of these animals to the Oyster-beds; Collins, in 1888, having estimated the damage done by them to the beds in the Connecticut waters alone as amounting to ​631,500 dollars, although 42,000 bushels of "Stars" were taken from the beds that year.
Mr. Hermon C. Bumpus has contributed an interesting report "On the Movements of certain Lobsters liberated at Wood's Hole during the summer of 1898." 479 Lobsters were tagged and liberated, and subsequently, one was found to have made a record journey of twelve miles in three days. This, however, was in complete contrast to others, though we notice fifteen miles in six days, and the same distance in seven days, among other records. Of the whole number liberated, seventy-six very soon found their way to market, and there is considerable justification for the opinion, "that unless the supply of any one locality is replenished, either by immigration or artificial propagation, the Lobster will be exterminated; indeed, elimination has actually occurred at certain localities, and there is every indication that before long an industry which has yielded many millions of dollars will have perished through the inexcusable abuses of our fishing privileges."
This volume, which has just reached our hands through the accredited channel, may be considered as a recent publication; the title-page is dated 1901. Its contents are a mass of valuable information more available for reference than review. From the report of the Commissioner, we learn that the failure of the "eastern Oyster" to reproduce in the colder waters of Oregon and Washington has suggested the desirability of transplanting to the west coast some of the fine large Oysters found in Northern Japan, notably in Akishi Bay, on the eastern side of Hokushu Island. This idea has passed the stage of suggestion, and negotiations are stated to have been undertaken for the shipment of a cargo.
Mr. H.F. Moore has contributed a report on the "Albatross South Sea Expedition." The full reports on this scientific expedition, under the direction of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, have yet to be published, but the present instalment is somewhat of ​an itinerary of the voyage. Mr. Moore, as a naturalist, frequently narrates most interesting observations. Thus, at Tahiti, "a little Kingfisher is always found along the streams and their dry beds, apparently depending more upon insects, which it catches on the wing, than upon the usual food of its kind." At the village of Hihifa, on the island of Tongatabu, there is a remarkable rookery of Fruit-Bats, occupying about fifteen adjoining trees, and estimated to contain upwards of six thousand individuals. Although these animals destroy considerable quantities of fruit, they are "tapu," and under the immediate protection of the chief of Hihifa, and are not permitted to be shot or molested in any manner.
Mr. C.H. Townsend has supplied a "Chronological Bibliography relative to the Work of the Albatross," in which no fewer than some two hundred and forty-four memoirs are enumerated, relating wholly or in part to the results of this voyage; a long list is also given of papers still to be published on the same subject.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse