EEVIEWS. 



A History of the British Hydroid Zoophytes. 

 By Thomas Hincks, B.A.^ 



The ajipearance of Mr. Hincks' long-expected work has 

 supplied a desideratum that must have been felt by nearly 

 all microscopic observers, at any rate when on a visit to the 

 seaside. 



The abundance, beauty, and variety of the objects supplied 

 by the class of animals Avhich constitutes the subject of his 

 work, must at all times have attracted the attentive admira- 

 tion of numerous observers with the microscope ; but as the 

 next step beyond mere vague admiration and curiosity is, or 

 ought to be, a desire to become acquainted with the nature 

 and life-history of the objects of this admiration, and to be 

 able to classify and name them, it must long have been felt 

 by numerous students of microscopic nature that they were 

 Avithout any satisfactory guide, and their gratitude to one 

 who has supplied such an efficient one as the " History of the 

 British Hydroid Zoophytes," should be equally deep and 

 lasting. 



Up to the present time the only systematic introductions 

 of a satisfactory kind to a knoAvleclge of these curious orga- 

 nisms since the time of Ellis have been Dr. Johnston's 

 " History of British Zoophytes," and the late Dr. Lands- 

 borough's " Popular History of British Zoophytes ;" both 

 excellent works in their day, but whose scientific value has 

 long been much diminished by the subsequent advance of 

 knowledge, which has led to an entire, or almost entire, 

 change, not only in the jirincij^les of classification, but in our 

 conceptions of many of the forms upon which they treat. 

 But this cannot be better shown than in the words of Mr. 

 Hincks' preface : — 



Tlie appearance of this work canuot certaiuly be accouuted premature. 

 Twenty-one years have elapsed since the second edition oi" Dr. Johnston's 

 ' History of British Zoophytes ' was published, and durin;^ tliat period the 

 whole aspect of his favourite science has clianged. His classification of 



' Two vols. Van Voorst, London, 1868. 



