14 REVIEWS. 



a noble earnest of what the entire catalogue, of which these form a portion, 

 will be when completed. 



In calling them "a catalogue" a slight error in nomenclature, resulting either 

 from that ignis fatwts love of uniformity, or from a, perhaps, more pardonable 

 excess of modesty, has, however, been committed by their able and judicious 

 compiler ; to give any just idea of the contents, he should have called these 

 parts a monograph and not a catalogue, containing, as they will when finally 

 completed, a catalogue of all the marine Polyzoa in the British Museum, 

 accompanied by figures and descriptions, not merely of the genera, but also 

 of all the species contained in their pages, and which, being drawn up from 

 the typical specimens, will give them an additional value, more especially to 

 the British student, as they refer to the specimens, in many cases, used by Dr. 

 G. Johnston and others when describing the species recorded in their writ- 

 ings. A sound discretion has been exercised in the selection of their com- 

 piler. Mr. George Busk who has also made the drawings, with which they 

 are so plentifully enriched has long been known as a laborious student of the 

 lower forms of animal life, while his skill, as a practical observer, has given 

 a facility in the use of the microscope, which is apparent on even a cursory 

 examination of the plates, which are all drawn to scale, with the camera 

 lucida ; so that the absolute and relative proportions of each object are at 

 once evident. In the two fasciculi now before us, are contained the sub- 

 order Cheilostomata, in which are included such of the Infundibulata as 

 are characterized by having the " aperture of the cell filled with a thin, 

 membranaceous or calcareous velum, with a crescentic mouth, and provided 

 with a moveable lip." Under this head are contained the following fourteen 

 families with their contained genera : Catenicellidae, Salicornadae, Cellula- 

 riadae, Scrupariada3, Farciminariadae, Gemellariadas, Cabereadas, Bicella- 

 riada3, Flustradae, Membraniporidas, Celleporiadas, Escharadae, Vinculariadas, 

 and Selenariadas. 



In drawing up the characters of the species contained in the foregoing 

 families, very considerable use is made of the Avicularian and Vibracular 

 organs the possession of which appears to be, as Mr. Busk justly ob- 

 serves, peculiar to this suborder ; and a very able though brief analysis of 

 his views on this point is subjoined to the conclusion of Part II., with the 

 purpose of indicating the present state of our knowledge on this sub- 

 ject, and also of directing attention to their importance in affording 

 diagnostic or systematic characters. To these views we have already di- 

 rected the attention of our readers, when they appeared in the Transactions 

 of the Microscopical Society. Since that period, we ourselves have more care- 

 fully examined these strange organs, and we do not hesitate in expressing our 



