418 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



like problems among Vertebrates, it fails utterly when ap- 

 plied to the majority of the Invertebrates, and we have com- 

 pletely failed, thus far, to find any causes for their paleonto- 

 logical development differing from those acting upon their 

 successive embryological stages at the present day, of which 

 we know absolutely nothing." 



In a paper on the Birds of Guadalupe Island, off the coast 

 of Southern California, Mr. R. Ridgway discusses the subject 

 with reference to the genesis of species. There are only 

 eight species, and their affinities are almost entirely, as would 

 be expected, with those of Western North America. Yet 

 they are so far differentiated from them that they are recog- 

 nized by Mr. Ridgway as specifically distinct. They all dif- 

 fer somewhat similarly from their nearest mainland allies in 

 their principal features namely, in (1) "increased size of the 

 bill and feet, (2) shorter wings and tail, and (3) darker col- 

 ors." These facts, adds the reviewer, point emphatically to 

 the directly modifying influence of the peculiar conditions 

 of environment to which they are subjected; and, taken with 

 other now well-known facts, lead to the conclusion that the 

 present differentiation of species and subspecies is mainly 

 the result of the immediate action of climatic and other sur- 

 rounding conditions. 



Some remarkable observations of Schmankewitsch on the 

 influence of external surroundings on the organization of an- 

 imals have recently been published in Siebold and Kolliker's 

 Zeitschrift. This refers to changes in Artemia and JBranchi- 

 pus, two allied genera of Crustacea. In a former article, 

 published in 1875 in the Russian language, he discussed the 

 differences between the fresh- and salt-water forms of Cyclops 

 and allied forms, Daphnia and Artemia and BrancJiipus, and 

 showed that several species are produced by difference in 

 the density of the water and absence or presence of salt, with 

 results of unusual interest and pertinence to discussions on 

 the origin of species and genera. 



From his studies of the nautilus and its fossil allies, Bar- 

 rande infers that the type has undergone no modifications 

 from the Silurian period to the present day, and that the 

 i'acts elicited do not favor the evolution theory. 



