1894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 175 



the origin of the Crustacea. Stripped of their pleurae and of the 

 expansion of the head-shield, we have, in the early Trilobites {e.g., 

 Olenellus), long segmented animals tapering at the posterior end. The 

 first segment is bent round ventrally, so that the large labrum points 

 backwards. The appendages of the first segment appear to have 

 functioned as sensory organs and to have pointed downwards, being 

 inserted at the sides of the labrum. The following segments were pro- 

 vided with membranous lobate appendages carrying, on their dorsal 

 edges, gills and sensory cirri, and distally specialised into locomotory 

 organs. The alimentary canal ran through the whole length of the 

 body, bending round anteriorly to open through the mouth. 



" The Trilobites may thus be described as fixed specialised stages in 

 the evolution of the Crustacea from an annelidan ancestor, which bent its mouth 

 round ventrally so as to use its parapodia asjaivs." 



To us it has seemed in the highest degree improbable that 

 Crustacea could have come from a specialised annelidan, but 

 it will be interesting to see what the "arachnoid" theory- 

 holders have to say in reply to this paper, which appears to be care- 

 fully and thoughtfully worked out. It is fully illustrated, and marks a 

 distinct revival of palaeozoological interest in the Geological Society 

 which we are pleased to see. We note, however, tliat of those four 

 who entered into the discussion of the paper, three were zoologists, 

 geologists as a rule caring for little else than stratigraphy or 

 petrology. 



Species-Making and Species-Taking. 



In one branch of biology there still rages a battle about species. 

 Those who are concerned with the collection, naming, and description 

 of fossil and living species are troubled constantly by the stupid and 

 unprincipled action of species-mongers of the baser sort. 



Opposed though we are to too great extension of professionalism 

 or officialdom in science, we have sometimes wished that there could 

 be something in the nature of a diploma without which no one should 

 be permitted to practice, i.e., to publish, or that there were some 

 means of disabling an incompetent or dishonest writer, such as the 

 Bar exercises when it strikes a man off the rolls. Even now there is 

 a case that, if the facts be correctly stated, certainly calls for some 

 such drastic treatment. A writer named Victor Lopez Seoane has 

 recently been distributing a couple of pamphlets, entitled " Aves 

 nuevas de Galicia " and " Revision del Cataiogo de las Aves de 

 Andalucia," both of which bear the imprint "La Corufia, 1870." 

 There is, however, clear internal evidence that the date of one of 

 these is incorrect, as it refers to the British Museum Catalogue of 

 Birds, the first volume of which did not appear till 1874. Moreover, 

 it is stated by Mr. C. D. Sherborn, who discusses the question in the 

 August number of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, that 

 when these pamphlets reached him "the ink in which they were 

 printed was apparently fresh and easily smeared." Whether or no 

 it is designed for the purpose, this pre-dating gains priority for some 



