Die wirbelthiere Europa's mit Berücksichtigung der Faunen von Vorderasien und Nordafrika

Abstract

IT is always convenient to have within covers separated by a moderate distance only an account of the fauna of a definite district, especially when, as in the present instance, the fauna is one that is fairly exhaustively known. It is not likely that a manual of the scope of that which we review here will ever need substantial alteration, or even slight changes, for many years to come. The volume, in fact, is not only of permanent value, but contains the marrow of a whole library of faunistic works, and includes all that the student needs, whether the aim of his studies be purely geographical or whether he desires a handy series of definitions of families, genera, and species. Inasmuch as the volume i something less than five hundred pages in length, and seeing that the definitions of family and other characters are often from twelve to twenty lines in length, the author is compelled to deny himself any discussion of points round which opinions fluctuate, and is driven to be entirely dogmatic. Die wirbelthiere Europa's mit Berücksichtigung der Faunen von Vorderasien und Nordafrika. Part i. Second edition. General Determinants up to 1841. Part ii. Special Determinants up to 1841. By Dr. O. Schmiedeknecht. Pp. vi + 470. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1906.) Price 10 marks.