348 NATURAL SCIENCE [May 



and exhaustive, and fresh-water fauna were for the first time studied 

 with reference to their bathymetrical distribution. Full lists were 

 made of all species observed ; these might have been more numerous 

 in a more fertile region, but the methods of investigation leave nothing 

 to be desired. 



The ingenious but simple apparatus (figured on page 15 of the 

 publication) for catching small land-animals of various kinds is 

 worthy of special attention, and might be used by anyone living in 

 the country, with the result of greatly increasing our knowledge of 

 the species inhabiting one district. A general summary of results 

 would have added to the interest of the pamphlet, which consists of 

 74 pages, and is profusely illustrated. 



Indo-Pacific Shells 



Catalogue'of the Hadfield Collectiox of Shells from the Loyalty Islands. By 

 J. C. Melvill and R. Standon. Parts IL and III. 1897. Price 2s. 



This pamphlet forms part of the series of handbooks issued by the 

 Manchester Museum. Part I. was published in 1895, and the whole 

 is merely a reprint from A^ol. VIII. of the Journal of Conchology. 

 The list will prove useful to future workers, not only on the fauna of 

 the Loyalty Islands, but also of other localities in the Indo-Pacific. 

 Many of the species have a wide range, and the authors call attention 

 to " the cognate character in the rnolluscan fauna " of those islands 

 and the Mauritius. That of the Loyalty Islands appears to ho. ex- 

 tremely rich, as many as 860 species being recorded by Messrs 

 Melvill and Standon. Nearly all of the 106 new species described are 

 very small, but many of them are very beautifully sculptured. It is 

 questionable whether the authors are to be commended in such free 

 use of Greek for the specific names. Mr Hoyle's introduction states 

 that a few of the type specimens remain in ]\Ir Melvill's cabinet, but 

 the final paragraph of the paper says, " The original types are all in 

 the Manchester Museum." 



Life 



What is Life ? or, Where are We ? What are We ? Whence do we Come ? and 

 Whither do we Go? By Frederick Hovenden, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. London: 

 Cliapman & Hall, 1897. 



The legs and feet of this work are physical, and developed in accord- 

 ance with principles which modern physicists (who are severely 

 handled) regard as likely to render them weak-kneed and rickety. 

 Its head and shoulders rise into regions of anti-theology. Its middle 

 (concerning which alone we are here concerned) is mainly a piece of 

 biological patchwork, to form which scraps from many authors have 

 been collected with more diligence than discrimination. Apart from 

 the patches, we have not discovered anything of biological value in 

 the work. Here is a sample of the conclusions to which the author 

 is led. " All living creatures, except the very lowest forms, are built 

 up of cells and the secretions of these cells. All cells are built up of 

 molecules. In the higher animals, including man, the cells are con- 

 trolled by the central molecule, which is in its turn controlled by the 

 fundamental atom." At death the constituents of the body tend to 

 be distributed in the air. " From principally the air, the specific 



