1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 69 



Zoology of the Invertebrata. A Text-book for Students. By Arthur E. Shipley, 

 M.A. Pp. 458, with many illustrations. London : Adam & Charles Black, 

 1893. Price i8s. net. 

 Although zoological text-books are strewn thickly as the leaves in 

 Vallambrosa, it cannot be said that there is no room for Mr. 

 Shipley's work. The smaller text-books are elementary and in- 

 sufficient ; the lapse of time and a quickly advancing science have 

 left behind the once invaluable Claus. Others, English and foreign, 

 are too much affected by the lamentable doctrine of selected types — a 

 method that, however it be a necessary concession to the conditions 

 of time and space in laboratory teaching, is pernicious in a text- 

 book. Mr. Shipley makes a wise parade of the multiplicity of Nature. 

 He does not send the zoological world spinning round on the earth- 

 worm because there is great store of it in the back garden, nor regard 

 the cray-fish as a prop of creation because it can be ordered from 

 the fishmonger. 



At the same time, in each larger group a fuller account is given 

 of some important example in order that the most interesting modi- 

 fications presented by other members may be set forth. Thus, to 

 take an example, in the chapter on Nemertea, Tetrastemma Jiavida is 

 most fully described, but in every point its characters are compared 

 with the diverging characters of other members, and the diagrams 

 and illustrations given are of general application, not special repre- 

 sentations of the anatomy of the particular species. Or, again, in 

 the section on Ascidians, the features of Ciona intestinalis are made the 

 text, but particular description is avoided by constant reference to 

 other Ascidians. 



It may be said that a clear and definite idea of the groups is 

 given, and that a student who reads this book along with the recog- 

 nised courses of higher laboratory work will have a very good 

 knowledge of the Invertebrata. 



Following a time-worn custom, the author places at the beginning 

 of each chapter a few lines in italics entitled "characteristics." 

 These are given in the disjointed, unfinished phrases that invariable 

 custom supposes tenable by the memory. Possibly they are necessary, 

 but they seem a compromise between intelligence and the examination 

 system. Mr. Shipley, it is true, calls them " characteristics," but they 

 will be taken as definitions. A definition of a group of animals would 

 not exist if the personal equation were allowed for, and it is more 

 important that the mind of the student should be fixed on the 

 connections than on the distinctions between the groups. His 

 concept of the group must always be his knowledge of the animals 

 in it. Curiously enough, the author, while giving " characteristics " 

 for the Protozoa, Metazoa, and the groups like the Coelenterata, 

 Porifera, and so forth, has not attempted them for the Coelomata and 

 Acoelomata, but has remained content with the much more scientific 

 method of writing a little chapter or section on them. 



In classification, Mr. Shipley is convincing and ingenious. 



The book is well illustrated, well indexed, and conveniently 

 arranged. 



The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, By Charles G. Barrett, F.E.S. 

 Vol. I., Rhopalocera. Pp. viii., 313, pis. xl. London : L. Reeve & Co., 1893 

 Price £1. los. (with coloured plates, £1. los.). 



This volume on Briti"^!! Butterflies is the first of a work on our native 

 Lepidoptera, uniform with Fowler's " Coleoptera " and Saunders' 



