1907. 3 6 5 



REVIEW- 



BEITISH TUNICATA. 



The British Tunicata : an unfinished Monograph. By Joshua 

 Aedkr and Albany Hancock. Edited by John Hopkinson, 

 F.Iv.S., F.G S., Secretary of the Ray vSociety. Vol. II., with lives of 

 the Authors by Canon A. M. Norman, M.A., D.C.Iv., F.R.S., and 

 the late Dennis Embeeton, M.D. Pp. xxviii. + 164, Pis. XXI. to h. 

 London: Ray Society, 1907. Price 1/. 



The following bibliographical notice, extracted from Canon Norman's 

 history of this work in vol. i- (Ray Society, 1905), may explain its origin 

 and mode of publication. 



Between 1855 and i860 Alder undertook to prepare a catalogue of 

 British Tunicata for the British Museum. This was finished in 1863, 

 but owing to the withdrawal of the grant from the Trustees, the idea of 

 publication had to be abandoned. Alder then consulted his old friend, 

 Albany Hancock, and it was decided to expand the catalogue to the 

 dimensions of a monograph, and to publish it in their joint names. 

 After Alder's death, in 1867, Hancock was more than ever anxious to 

 complete the work in the contemplated manner, and in the following 

 year published a paper " On the Anatomy and Physiology of the Tuni- 

 cata," in the Journal of the Linnean Society, making known his views 

 up to that date. In 1873 Hancock was " within two years of the time 

 when he expected to be able to bring it to a conclusion." But soon after 

 this his final illness attacked him, and he died on 24th October, 1873. 

 Huxley undertook to write an introduction, and generally to prepare 

 the work for the press, but he abandoned the idea owing to the Ray 

 Society not being in a position to publish the work at that time. The 

 MSS. and drawings were placed under the care of the Committee of the 

 Natural History Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where they remained 

 till 1904, when, the work having been again accepted by the Ray 

 Society, they were at last sent, at Canon Norman's request, for publica- 

 tion by the Society. 



The book begins with short but interesting lives of the authors— of 

 Alder by Canon Norman, and of Hancock by Dr. Embleton — with an 

 addendum by Canon Norman. Short and of course incomplete in 

 detail as they are, they serve to show the extraordinary amount of per- 

 severance and of application shown by these two typical old- 

 fashioned naturalists in their work. Judged from the modern stand- 

 point, when we consider our enormous advantages in the possession of 

 the microtome and innumerable selective stains, their work is little 

 short of marvellous, and might serve even now as a criterion in specio- 

 graphic research. 



Except for the authors' lives, the book is entirely devoted to the 

 systematic treatment of those species of British Tunicata not included 

 in vol. i. The general anatomy was dealt with in that volume. 



