,,s^. SOME NEW BOOKS. 469 



gation. One can scarcely pa}^ higher tribute to Dr. Klein's genius as 

 an investigator than by describing his book as a very readable one — 

 in spite of the unfortunate fact that it is almost as badly written as 

 any scientific book in the English language. That invites many 

 odious comparisons, but it is surely time to make protest when so 

 admirable a work in other respects appears seamed with disfigure- 

 ments of this kind. Finally, the illustrations and " get up " of the 

 book deserve a very hearty word of praise. 



The Physiology of the Invertebrata. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph.D. Pp. xvi. and 

 477. London : L. Reeve & Co., 1892. 



It is not often that one receives such a thoroughly disappointing book 

 as Dr. Griffith's Physiology of the Invertebrates, for while a reliable 

 compilation upon this subject has long been a desideratum, Dr. 

 Griffith's work is so scrappy and untrustworthy that it cannot be 

 recommended to the students to whom it ought to be of most use. 

 The book consists of thirteen chapters, which deal in succession with 

 introductory principles and classification, the chemistry of protoplasm, 

 digestion, absorption, the blood, circulation, respiration, secretion 

 and excretion, nervous systems, special sense, locomotion, and 

 reproduction. The chemical side of the subject is the best treated ; 

 the illustrations of the apparatus employed, and the tabular sum- 

 maries of the results of recent work, such as those on the digestive 

 processes, are certainly useful. The author, however, here assumes 

 far too much knowledge in his reader, e.g., on p. 11 he talks about 

 the specific rotary power of albumen without the slightest explanation 

 for the non-physical student. In other departments the author is 

 less successful ; the value of his classification may be judged from 

 his retention of the Eurypterids and Trilobites among the Crustacea, 

 of Actinophrys in the Radiolaria, of the Edrioasterida and Rugosa 

 as separate classes, his inclusion of the Hirudinea in the Annelida 

 (p. 256), and his obsolete classification of the Mollusca. This weak- 

 ness in knowledge of Systematic Zoology is only here of consequence 

 as it leads the author into a series of serious physiological blunders : 

 he makes statements about whole classes which are only true about 

 some members or divisions of those classes. Thus, on p. 34 he puts 

 the possession of an anus as among the characters of the 

 Asteroidea, and of a jaw apparatus among those of Echinoidea ; on 

 p. 414 he says that the latter have five genital glands. In many 

 important points, moreover, the author's views are very antiquated 

 and striking recent researches have been omitted. Thus, he states 

 on p. 368 that the Polyplacophora have no eyes, in neglect of 

 Moseley's memoir ; his remarks on the eyes of the Echinodermata 

 are rendered valueless by the absence of reference to Sarrasin's dis- 

 covery of a series of eyes in Diadema ; the section on the nephridia of 

 the worms is also sadly incomplete, and the few references to papers 

 given suggest a scanty acquaintance with the literature of the subject. 

 In the chapter on respiration, the orthoptera are the only insects to 

 which is referred cloacal respiration ; the tissue respiration of the 

 Asteroids is well described, but this is counterbalanced by the 

 omission of reference to the dermal branchiae. The statement 

 (p. 243) as to the renal function of the pyloric pouches of the 

 Echinoids is somewhat premature, especially in face of the absence 

 of reference to the renal nature of the so-called " heart." There is 

 all through the book a considerable amount of dogmatism ; thus, in 



