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REVIEW. 



A History of the British Hydroid Zoophytes. By Thomas 

 HiNCKs, B.A. In two vols., 8vo. London : Van Voorst. 



Reviewing is not our province, but we cannot refrain from noticing 

 a work which has long been wanted, and which so well fills up the 

 gap which has hitherto existed in zoological, and we may add, in 

 microscopical literature. Since the appearance of the last standard 

 work on Zoophytes — Johnston's well-known " History " — twenty- 

 one years ago, some sixty memoirs on the Hydroida have appeared, 

 trebling the number of species, and rendering it a task of no small 

 difficulty to identify any of the rarer species of our Hydroid 

 Cselenterates. 



Although Mr. Hincks' splendid monograph is chiefly devoted to 

 the description of genera and species, yet his account of the 

 anatomy and physiology of the Hydroida as a group, will, we 

 think, be found the most interesting portion of the work, for it is 

 here we find, in greatest perfection, that clear and logical expres- 

 sion and simplicity of style, which can only spring from a complete 

 mastery of the subject, and which renders such works as these 

 interesting alike to the general reader and to the advanced scientific 

 student. 



The first volume contains the text ; the second, the plates, o' 

 which there are sixty- seven, lithographed by Mr. Tuffen West, 

 after drawings by the author, mostly original. With a few 

 exceptions, each species is drawn natural size, and with a portion 

 enlarged to an uniform scale, about twenty diameters, more highly 

 magnified figures being also given where necessary. 



In the volume of text, a general introduction to the study of the 

 Hydroida is prefixed to the description of genera and species. 



The terminology which the author adopts is first explained. As 

 few special terms are used as are consistent with scientific accuracy, 

 and these are employed in the sense in which they are generally 

 received, with one or two unimportant exceptions. The term 

 Gonophore, for instance, as here employed, means the whole repro- 

 ductive bud, and " the sexual zooid developed in it, whether as a 



