THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD.
The Living Animals of the World. By C. J. Cornish (editor), F. C. Selma, Sir Harry Johnston, and others. Vol. I. (Hutchin- son and Co. 10s. 6d.)—This is a book which we must describe rather than criticise. The illustrations—between five and six hundred in number—are, of course, the chief feature ; these are from photographs, and when we have said that they are a very remarkable collection we have little more to remark. The contrast, both of skeleton and living form, between the anthropoid ape and man, as exhibited on pp. 1 and 2, is particularly noteworthy. The tame crocodiles on p. 7 are curious. Of other animals we may mention the cat tribe, with its wonderful varieties, from the lion and tiger down to—or should we say up to 2—the " domestic cat." Of this last kind there is a quite beautiful gallery of portraits. There has been a most successful " Persian invasion," for which we all ought to be thankful. The " Persian," for the most part, both "handsome is " and "handsome does." There is a photograph on p. 38 of a very curious cross between a lion and a tigress. The offspring is bigger than either of its parents. It would be ungrateful to omit all mention of the puma, the friend of man, amigo del Cristiano, as the 1- paniards used to call it. Some strange anecdotes are
told about it. This creature is found in both the Americas, beginning with the Canadian boundary, thoagh he is rare in the northern continent. One story relates how a man was observed lying out on the open prairie, while four pumas amused them- selves by jumping over him. He watched them for a time, and then fell asleep. In another, a passenger on a traveller's launch who used to sleep on shore was asked how he had slept. "The frogs had disturbed him," he said. Really it was the purring of a puma under his hammock. The creature was delighted to be near the " Cristiano."
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