124 [August 



SOME NEW BOOKS 



The Structure of Corals 



Microscopic and Systematic Study of Madreporarian Types of Corals. By 

 Miss Maria M. Ogilvie, D.Sc, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, London. Vol. 187, 1896, 

 pp. 83-345. Price, lis. 6d. 



Miss Ogilvie's work on the microscopic and systematic study of 

 Madreporaria, read before the Eoyal Society in November 1895, was 

 a long time in appearing in print. It is a copious and an ambitious 

 work, one which reflects great praise on the industry and the capacity 

 of the authoress, yet, as must always be the case in a work of such 

 pretensions, it is open to a considerable amount of criticism in details. 

 To criticise it adequately one would have to enter into minutiae which 

 are of little interest except to the specialist ; to criticise it at all one 

 must necessarily enter into details which are unfamiliar even to 

 zoological readers, unless they happen to have made a special study 

 of corals. 



It is well known that the stony corals, though they present but a 

 limited range of structural peculiarities, are so rich and various in 

 detail and display such infinite variety of form, that their classification 

 presents great difficulties. These difficulties have been enhanced by 

 the fact that even now the anatomy of the polyps is only known 

 for a relatively small number of forms, and that there is a vast assem- 

 blage of extinct corals of which we only can know the structure of the 

 skeletons : the nature of the polyps to which the skeletons belonged 

 can only be inferred from the small knowledge we have of the 

 anatomy of recent types. A great number of the palaeozoic forms of 

 corals appeared to differ so much in their characters from later and 

 recent corals that they were classified apart by Milne Edwards and 

 Haiine under the names Eugosa, Tabulata, and Tubulosa. The groups 

 Tabulata and Tubulosa have disappeared some time since, but the 

 group Eugosa has remained, in spite of the fact that several authors, 

 but especially Gottlieb von Koch, have shown that the intimate 

 structure of the coralla of many Eugosa is in all essential characters 

 the same as that of recent corals. The group of Eugosa has survived, 

 against the better judgment of many investigators, because it was 

 convenient to palaeontologists, and in the study of corals as in that of 

 many other groups, palaeontologists and zoologists have worked with 

 too little heed to each other's doings. Miss Ogilvie writes as a 

 palaeontologist, but as one whose ideas are moulded by the teachings 

 of zoology. A great part of her work refers to the structure of 

 recent forms, and her conclusions as to the nature and systematic 

 position of ancient corals are founded on the knowledge which she 

 has gained from her studies of living forms. The result is that 

 she has turned the old classification of Milne Edwards and Haime 

 upside down, and even those who have accustomed themselves 



