GLEANINGS 47 



water mark of perfection. The artist also depicts the nests of the Marsh- 

 warbler and Subalpine Warbler, the latter in colour. In addition there 

 are two maps showing the approximate annual range of the Marsh- and 

 Reed-warblers ; this is an idea which might well be copied in other 

 books of a similar nature. G. E. G.-M. 



Teratology of Fishes. By James F. Gemmill, M.A, M.D., D.Sc. 

 4to. Pp. 7?,, Plates 26, Text-figures 114. Glasgow: James 

 Maclehose & Sons. 15s net. 



It is unfortunate in the case of abnormalities that in most groups of 

 animals only the finished product can be observed, and that the origins 

 which might link monstrosities with more normal variations can only 

 be guessed at. Amongst fishes, however, the beginnings of abnormalities 

 have been traced even to the egg, and in this important memoir Dr 

 Gemmill brings together his own observations and those of other authors, 

 tracing the development particularly of double and even triple embryos. 

 Summary descriptions are also given of other types of abnormality in 

 fishes, as well as an almost complete list of papers dealing with the 

 subject. This brief indication of its contents is sufficient to show that 

 Dr Gemmill's monograph is invaluable to the student of teratology ; but 

 the angler will also find much to interest him regarding the structures of 

 the bull-headed, hump-backed, and "tail-less" sports that occasionally 

 fall to his lure. J. R. 



GLEANINGS. 



J. H. Ashworth, in Nature of 19th December (pp. 447-45 1\ contributes 

 an interesting and useful summary of the papers read before Section D 

 of the British Association during the recent meeting at Dundee. The 

 bulk of the article is subdivided under the following headings : Fora- 

 minifera, the Isle of Wight Disease of Bees, a Sessile Ctenophore, 

 Papers on Helminthology, Papers on Polychasta, Papers on Echinoderms, 

 a new Parasitic Copepod, the Luminous Cells of Pyrosoma and Cyclo- 

 salpa, an Hermaphrodite Amphioxus, Scottish Sea Fisheries, 1 898-191 2, 

 Reissner's Fibre and the Subcommissural Organ in the Vertebrate 

 Brain, Papers on Birds, the Development of the Thymus, Fat-tailed 

 Sheep, Survey of the Fresh-water Fauna of India, Zoological Results of 

 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, Plankton of Lough Neagh, 

 Biological Science, and the Pearling Industry. 



Melvin H. Rattray, in the Zoologist for December (p. 463), records 

 the occurrence of two aduit and two young Little Terns on the Ayrshire 

 coast, seven miles south of Girvan, in August last. 



The ornithological notes contributed to the November number of the 

 Glasgow Naturalist include the following : " Greenland Wheates " 







L I B R 



