386 NATURAL SCIENCE. May, 



our disposal, which will furnish in all probability good material for 

 deciding on the merits of Natural Selection as opposed to environmental 

 influence. 



An Index to the Genera and Species of the Foraminifera. By Charles 

 Davies Sherborn. Part I. (A to Non). From Smithsonian Miscellaneous 

 Collections, vol. xxxvii. (No. 856). 8vo. Pp. ii., 240. Washington: Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 1893. 



The Smithsonian Institution has often deserved well of the working 

 naturalist by the publication of works troublesome to prepare and 

 costly to print, appealing to no wide public, but invaluable to the 

 few that are able to appreciate them. In no case will gratitude be 

 more profound or more deserved than that which will come to the 

 Institution in return for the issue of this Index. The labour involved 

 in the production of such a work is sufficiently clear to anyone who 

 casts his eye down one of its closely-printed pages, and is also 

 evidenced by the fact that this, the first half, has taken nearly as 

 long to print as the whole index took to prepare. The work is 

 practically a systematic index to all the literature published on 

 Foraminifera up to the end of 1889, and refers not merely to every 

 published name, but to many names not properly published, to many 

 published instances either not named or not referred to Foraminifera 

 at all, and to other instances that have been erroneously placed in 

 this group. The author does not profess to determine the synonymy 

 of the different species, since this would introduce the element of 

 personal opinion, which, even in the case of so approved an 

 authority, might occasionally be erroneous. Almost the same end 

 is, however, attained by the citation of previous opinions, and by 

 the extraordinarily complete system of cross-references. The 

 value of a work like the present is almost entirely dependent on 

 the two qualities of accuracy and completeness. Those conversant 

 with Mr. Sherborn's " Bibliography of the Foraminifera," a book of 

 constant service to the librarian, the bibliographer, and the scientific 

 writer, know that no one has a fuller acquaintance with the literature 

 of his subject ; while Woodward and Sherborn's " Catalogue of 

 British Fossil Vertebrata " is sufficient testimony to the accuracy of 

 the compiler. 



We cannot dilate on this monument of enthusiastic industry, 

 since it appeals to the specialist rather than to the general reader. 

 But we would urge all who contemplate similar publications to talje 

 this as their model ; and we hope that this example will lead many to 

 imitate it for other classes of animals. Were all groups indexed in 

 this manner, the labours of zoologists would be lightened of a grievous 

 burden, and the wail of the synonym need no longer be heard in the 

 land. 



Other New Publications on the Foraminifera. 



The samples of sea-bottom obtained by the German exploring 

 ship " Gazelle " have been worked out by Dr. J. G. Egger, who has 

 paid especial attention to the Foraminifera. Dr. Egger's monograph 

 has recently been published in the Abhandlungen of the Bavarian 

 Academy (vol. xviii.), and consists of 266 pages, illustrated by 21 

 quarto zincographs. These zincographs are sketchy, but serve their 

 purpose admirably, because most of the forms have been described 

 before. They are crowded with figures, and therefore present, for 

 perhaps the first time, a valuable grouping of many allied forms in 



