254 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 



In his Pelagic Entomostraca of the Caspian Sea, Sars (13) dis- 

 cusses eighteen species, of which thirteen are new. Six belong 

 to the new genus Ccrcopdgis, meaning " sling-tail." Were these 

 animals twelve feet long instead of a twelfth of an inch they would 

 rank among the most striking objects in zoology. The eye is 

 enormous. The thread-like caudal process is sometimes half an 

 inch long, fully six times the length of the body. Near the end 

 this lash is " bent in a peculiar sling-like manner, the opposite edges 

 of the sling armed with a double row of recurved denticles." Fur- 

 thermore, out of a kind of gastric sympathy, the intestinal tube 

 forms also a sling-like flexure or loop. In the female the incubatory 

 pouch rises abruptly from the back and inclines forward, this mon- 

 strous sack of young ones being sometimes as large as the body which 

 supports it. 



In the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (vol. 

 xi., pp. 153-167, June 9, 1897), Miss Rathbun gives 'A Eevision 

 of the Nomenclature of the Brachyura.' It appears to be thor- 

 oughly sound in principle, and is certainly based on wide and 

 accurate knowledge. Only, in a few points of detail, one may be 

 permitted to question the results arrived at, and to defend, for in- 

 stance, the name Carcinus for the shore-crab, Thelphusa for the 

 river-crab, Macrocheira for the giant-crab of Japan, since the reasons 

 for displacing these familiar names seem to be at least not impera- 

 tive. Owners of Herbst's Naturgeschichtc clcr Krabben und Krebsc 

 and of Leach's Malacostraca Podopkthtdma Britanniac, will find in 

 Miss Rathbun's paper exceedingly useful tables, establishing the 

 dates of the numerous parts of those works, the publication of 

 which extended in the one case over two-and-twenty years, and in 

 the other over no less than sixty. 



The excellent plan of printing the very day of publication on 

 cover and title-page is followed in Miss Rathbun's paper. Therefore, 

 for her new generic name Ucides, in place of Latreille's pre-occupied 

 Uca, we know precisely that the date is June 9, 1897. But of Dr 

 Ortmann's Ocdiplcura, also a new name for Uca of Latreille, we can 

 say nothing positively. Some supplementary notes of correction at 

 the end of his valuable Carcinologische Studien are dated " Princeton 

 University, New Jersey, d. 29 Mai 1897." This date was probably 

 written on the proof copy. The paper was printed and published 

 in Jena. It is for the publishers to tell us the exact date of 

 publication. Until they do an expectant world cannot know for 

 certain which has the priority, Ucides or Ocdiplcura. 



It should be understood that the above remarks touch only a 

 small part of the papers mentioned, and also that they leave un- 

 noticed contributions by many other well-known writers, highly 

 worthy of attention, though the forms discussed may not happen to 



