434 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



tive Local Maps, which may, in advance of a systematic survey, 

 supply inquirers with such information as to the geology of each 

 district, as we have hitherto principally obtained from the obser- 

 vations and industry of individuals. 



Sir 0. Wyville Thomson's first instalment of the voyage of the 

 Challenger, though it does not bring her into our waters, is, as 

 might be expected from so ingenious a hand, full of fascinating 

 accounts of marine forms of life, and decorated with marvellous 

 illustrations. The author also read before the British Association 

 at Dublin, an account of the progress made in the official report 

 of the expedition. It is expected that it will extend " to 

 from fourteen to sixteen quarto volumes, of 500 or 600 pages, 

 the whole illustrated by about 1200 lithographed plates, and 

 many charts, woodcuts, and photographs." 



In the rapidly growing literature of Embryology and its 

 allied investigations, which endeavour to trace the whole circle 

 of life in the individual or pair, from its earliest condition to the 

 reproduction of identical forms in a second generation, the stu- 

 dent will note, with satisfaction, Mr. Balfour's monograph on the 

 development of the Elasmobranch fishes. The more so, that his 

 researches have been greatly assisted by the assistance of the 

 great zoological station at Naples, under the direction of Dr. 

 Dohrn, of which the members of this society have heard some- 

 thing from Baron de Miklucho Maclay, a co-operator in its foun- 

 dation. Perhaps the most generally interesting result of Mr. 

 Balfour's inquiries is his acceptance of the view that the pectoral 

 and ventral fins, and therefore the limbs of vertebrates in 

 general, are the result of a gathering together and specialization 

 of continuous Lateral frills, corresponding to those Dorsal and 

 Ventral processes which have, for the most part, more closely 

 retained their original character. 



The literature bearing upon the Life History of Bacteria, 

 which has already attained no inconsiderable magnitude, is sum- 

 marised by Professor Ray Lankester (" Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science," October, 1878, p. 455), in a notice from 

 which students of this important subject will obtain directions to 

 the last published results. The history of Bacillus anthracis, the 



