Handbook of Salamanders: The Salamanders of the United States, of Canada, and of Lower California

Abstract

HANDBOOK OF SALAMANDERS: THE SALAMANDERS OF THE UNITED STATES, OF CANADA, AND OF LOWER CALIFORNIA.-By Sherman C. Bishop. Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, N.Y.: XIV + 555, 144 figs. 1, pl., 55 maps, $5.00.Dr. Bishop's work on the salamander fauna of North America has long been eagerly awaited by his colleagues, since many of us have known of its progress, of the new studies being incorporated into it, and of the special interest in this group shown by the author in various earlier publications. The handsome volume now before us fully describes the rich salamander fauna of North America, north of Mexico, and including the Mexican territory of Lower California. Every species is figured and its geographic range is mapped. The result is a work to be recommended to every naturalist in North America who wishes to explore his local region for these creatures, many of which have remarkable breeding habits or other features of special interest. The species can readily be identified by means of the new book. The descriptive matter is clearly organized, under the successive headings, common name, scientific name, type locality, range, habitat, size, description, color, breeding, and larvae. With respect to form and clarity of treatment, as in typography and illustration, the work leaves little to be desired. Within the framework set for his treatment of the salamanders of North America, I find little criticism of the Handbook of Salamanders. The keys for identification are clear but far from simple and could be improved by a special section on their technical anatomical terminology, or by the effective device of illustrating the keys themselves. The maps need explanation and interpretation, and would thus become more meaningful. The bibliography and index are adequate. To a naturalist in search of an ideal treatment of an order, however, the plan of the work falls short of its author's abilities. The book is focussed too much on identification, as if animate creation existed only to be named. The introduction is disproportionately short; it should have given some account of the salamander fauna of the world, and of the remarkable fact that this primitive group is almost entirely confined to the northern hemisphere. The broader biological interests should have had more extended treatment; neoteny, for example, deserves more than a fraction of a page.-KARL P. SCHMIDT, Chicago Natural History Museum, Chicago, Illinois.