No. 395.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 897 



first structure simplified. Later the lens and especially the vitreous 

 body degenerated more rapidly than the retina. The muscles in 

 Typhlichthys have disappeared. The scleral cartilages have not 

 failed to the same extent as the active structures of the eye. The 

 degeneration is in no case due to arrested development. n Q T 



Abbott on the Marine Fishes of Peru. An excellent piece of 

 faunal work is "The Marine Fishes of Peru," by James Francis 

 Abbott, published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences of Philadelphia for June, 1899. 



The paper is based on the collections made by Rear-Admiral 

 L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., at Callao, while in command of the 

 Philadelphia. This accomplished officer has long taken a deep inter- 

 est in natural history matters, and this collection presented by him 

 to Stanford University is a proof of such interest. 



Mr. Abbott notes 102 species as recorded thus far from Peru, and 

 thirty of them are included in the Beardslee collection. Mr. Abbott 

 describes as new the following species from Callao : Basilichthys 

 octal* ins, Basilichthys regillus, Basilichthys jordani, Pisciregia beardsleei, 

 and Scicena gilberti. The new genus Pisciregia is allied to the Califor- 

 nia genus Atherinopsis, having a similar non-protractile premaxillary, 

 but the vomer is armed with recurved teeth ; the outer teeth in the 

 jaws are enlarged, and the first dorsal is very small. The abun- 

 dance of species of large-sized Atherinidae (Fez del Rey), constituting 

 the genera Chirostoma, Atherinopsis, Atherinops, Basilichthys, and 

 Pisciregia, excellent food fishes all, is one of the notable features of 

 the fish fauna of the eastern Pacific. D S T 



Fishes of French Guiana. --Dr. Leon Vaillant has published in 

 the Bulletin of the Museum at Paris a paper on fishes collected in 

 French Guiana, mostly from fresh waters. 



Two new species are described : Arius physacanthus, from Rio 

 Mahury; and Rivulus geayi, from Rio Cachipour. The Arius is 

 allied to emphysetus and should be placed with it in Sciadeichthys 

 if the modern genera of Bleeker are adopted. D S T 



Australian Tunicata. Students of the Tunicata have known for 

 some years that Professor W. A. Herdman has been occupied with the 

 investigation of the collections of this group belonging to the Aus- 

 tralian Museum at Sydney, New South Wales, and his report has 



