TO see a portion of my special domain surveyed by an authority in another branch of science appeals to me in a particularly interesting and instructive light, especially if it comes from a man of judgment and broad views. Such a survey may expose any bias, and is likely to open up new vistas. Dr. Kirchhoff, professor in the University of Halle, is a geographer of repute, and naturally approaches the facts of distribution of plants and animals from a point of view different to that of a botanist or zoologist. It is true his book is intended as an introduction to phytogeography and zoogeography for the student of physical geography, and not as a critical essay on these branches; yet its merits seem to demand that we should rank it higher and judge it accordingly. It is not a mere abstract of one of the few well-known treatises on the distribution of plants and animals, made to serve as a text-book for the beginner, but the product of a mind evincing a considerable power of assimilation of matter, necessarily foreign to it in many of its details, and with an admirable grasp of that which is essential. With these accomplishments are combined the gift of a lucid exposition and of a language which is, apart from certain idiosyncrasies of expression, clear and pleasant. Pflanzen-und Tierverbreitung. Alfred Kirchhoff Hann Hochstetter Pokorny Allgemeine Erdkunde Funfte Auflage J. Hann Ed. Bruckner A. Kirchhoff. iii. Abteil. Mit 157 Abbild. im Texte, u. 3 Karten in Farbendruck. Pp. 327. (Prag u. Wien: F Tempsky. Leipzig: G. Freytag, 1899.)