REVIEWS 343 



the commencement of the breeding season. Mr. Kemp finds no confirmation of 

 this in Lake Chilka. 



Certain species of amphibious Crustacea, such as the Ocypod crabs, a new 

 species of Dotilla, and Cardiosoma, seem to inhabit the banks of the outer 

 channel during the whole year in spite of the great change in salinity ; whereas 

 others, such as Gelasimus annulipes, are only met with when the water in the 

 channel is of the salinity of the open sea. 



Fifty-four species of Decapoda are found in the lake, and these belong to 

 thirty-eight genera. The Paguridea have already been described by Dr. Henderson 

 in the Records of the Indian Museum. About 60 per cent, of the whole number 

 of species exist through the full range of salinities. Some of the forms are well- 

 known brackish water creatures. Of others some are marine types whose 

 presence in fresh and brackish water is unexpected. Two species of Caridinia 

 are the only fresh-water representatives that can be classed as permanent 

 inhabitants. 



J- T. J. 



Memoirs of the Indian Museum. Vol. VI, No. 1. (Calcutta : Published by 

 order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, December 1915. Price 

 Rs. 7-8.) 

 The first part of the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Indian Museum contains 

 two important papers on widely different representatives of the fauna of India, 

 namely one on the Tunicata in the collection of the Indian Museum by Dr. Oka 

 of Tokyo, the other on Indian Oligochaeta by Dr. Stephenson. 



The Tunicate collection described by Dr. Oka, though a small one, is of quite 

 exceptional interest since it contains five specimens of the very rare genus 

 Hexacrobylus. This genus was constituted by Sluiter for a curious deep-sea 

 Ascidian dredged by the Siboga expedition, which was so unlike ordinary Ascidians 

 that it was impossible to guess its true nature until the only specimen was dissected. 

 Dr. Oka gives a full description of this new species, Hexacrobylus indicus, which 

 was dredged at a depth of 1912 fathoms south of Ceylon. A new genus 

 Monobotryllus is constituted for a form which connects the families Styelidae and 

 Polystyelidas. 



Dr. Stephenson, whose work on the Oligocheeta is well known, contributes 

 a paper on two collections of Oligochaeta, one made by Mr. Kemp in Ceylon, the 

 other by Mr. Graveley in Cochin. There are also references to other Indian 

 Oligochaates. Although the earth-worm fauna of India has been worked at to 

 some purpose during the last few years, it is practically certain that much remains 

 to be done. In the collections under review, of thirty-seven definitely named forms 

 there are two new genera, twenty new species, and five varieties. The discovery 

 of the first terrestrial species of Pontodrilus is noteworthy. Although this paper 

 of Dr. Stephenson covers new ground, we fear that much more extensive collec- 

 tions are necessary before a volume in the Fauna of India can be devoted to the 

 earthworms. 



J. T. J. 



The Involuntary Nervous System. By Walter Holbrook Gaskell, M.A., 

 M.D., F.R.S. [Pp. ix + 178, with 9 figures, 8 of which are coloured.] 

 (London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1916. Price 6s. net.) 



This book possesses a two-fold interest apart from its subject-matter. In the 

 first place it is the first of a new series of " Monographs on Physiology " being 



